BT and analyst wrestle over VoIP stats

A couple of days ago BT announced that it had a million VoIP subscribers. Then Ovum analyst Mark Main weighed in, suggesting that some of those subscribers were automatically opted in simply by having BT's broadband package.

A call to BT got a very sniffy reply to this opinion, with the spokesperson insisting that every one of those subscribers had opted in (readers who know otherwise are invited to insert their 2p below, so to speak). They also criticised Main's suggestion that BT had a very slim lead over its VoIP rivals (such as Orange and Skype), pointing out that, as these rivals have not released any stats of their own, it's impossible to say who's on top.

Back to Main, who as an analyst could very well know something the rest of us don't, and he's sticking by his forecasts. Which, of course, leaves us as journalists with a slippery story that's difficult to nail down for sure.

But that's what blogs are for.