North American voice over cable service revenues are expected to hit new highs in 2009 with just under $10 billion in revenues generating from an installed base of 23 million cable telephony households, according to research firm In-Stat (News - Alert).

 

The industry success comes as bundling carrier-grade voice service, in conjunction with video and high speed data has exploded in recent years, a trend that has been helped in large part by the continued innovations in voice technology.

 

In fact, Voice over cable technology provider ARRIS announced the shipment of its 20 millionth Embedded Multimedia Terminal Adapter (E-MTA). ARRIS is a pioneer of voice over cable technology and has held the number one market share worldwide in IP-based voice and data CPE for the past 15 quarters, according to In-Stat.

 

"Cable telephony service has become a key component of the cable industry's successful triple play offering of voice, video and data, and the continuing growth in fixed line telephony connections is enabling cable TV operators to compete more effectively with traditional telco incumbents," said In-Stat Analyst Mike Paxton. "ARRIS continues to be one of the leading worldwide suppliers of cable telephony equipment and solutions."

 

These E-MTAs are consumer premises devices that deliver an Internet connection plus 1, 2, 4, 8 or 12 primary-line voice ports for residential and small-to-medium sized businesses.

 

"Our CPE solutions were architected in consultation with our customers and their evolving need for attributes such as: five 9's availability, carrier-grade voice quality, diagnostic trouble-shooting capabilities and price point," said ARRIS Broadband Communication Systems President Bruce McClelland.

 

The E-MTAs are based on CableLabs (News - Alert) DOCSIS and PacketCable standards as well as SIP standards, and their design and performance have been consistently among the first CPE certified by CableLabs in its DOCSIS 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, and recent, 3.0 certification waves, according to the company.

 

"This customer focus and commitment to the highest standards of engineering have helped us maintain our leadership position in broadband access equipment provision and the trust of our customers," said McClelland.