Telephony market begins recovery as 2009 ends

Western European market shrinks 23 per cent in 2009 as vendor competition intensifies

Nip and tuck: vendors face an "extraordinarily tight race for the number one position" in western Europe

The western European enterprise voice market began to recover in 2009's second half, but still posted a full-year decline of about 23 per cent, research has found.

Figures from Synergy Research Group reveal that the global market was worth a little under $10bn (£6.6bn) last year, a decline of more than a quarter on 2008. But, according to the market-watcher, the market in western Europe enjoyed its highest growth quarter for two years in Q4.

IP telephony now represents almost 70 per cent of the overall market. The vendor landscape for IP line shipments in western Europe is nip and tuck, with the top five separated by just 2.26 points.

Alcatel-Lucent took top spot after growing its market share by 2.64 points to 17.67 per cent. Avaya was in second with a 16.94 per cent slice, closely followed by Aastra with 16.93 per cent. The two vendors posted market share gains of 1.47 and 1.41 points respectively.

Siemens was in fourth, holding 16.54 per cent of the market, while Cisco rounded out the top five, bagging a 15.41 per cent share. Nortel and Mitel were a distant sixth and seventh respectively. Both snared just under six per cent of the market.

The picture in the UK was decidedly different, with Avaya being crowned 2009's leading vendor, followed by Cisco and Mitel. Synergy's principal analyst Jeremy Duke claimed the western European market was unique in its competitiveness.

"In looking at the vendors in western Europe, we see an extraordinarily tight race for the number one position; it could be argued that three vendors tied for second place in 2009," he said. "Nowhere else in the world do we measure such a close proximity and concentration of market shares."