In the US, small business (5 to 99 employees) accounts for around half the GDP and more than half the employment. Not only do they employ a significant number of workers they also spend in a similar ratio. According to newIn-Statresearch, by 2015 small business spending on wireline voice services will approach $16 billion, which represents nearly 50% of all spending in this category.

“Wireline voice, although not growing in any significant way, is holding steady across all sizes of business,” says Greg Potter. “One service segment we see that could be vulnerable due to alternative technologies like VoIP, is international long distance services. Even though the total dollar spend remains high, we see negative growth over the forecast period.”

Some additional data points include:

• In small business, the hospitality and food vertical will spend the most on wireline voice services, reaching $2 billion by 2012.
• Total toll-free service expenditures will increase by $134 million over the 5-year forecast period.
• Enterprise spending in the government segment will reach $4.7 billion by 2015.
• SOHO will spend $267 million on other services in 2015, which includes audio-conferencing services, outbound calling services, and pre-paid calling.