Service provider spending on key VoIP gear to transition their networks from TDM dipped 8% in the third quarter, the second quarter in a row for such declines, according to an Infonetics report, "Service Provider VoIP and IMS Equipment and Subscribers."

As consumers buy fewer phone lines -- because foreclosed homes don't need phones, and in tough times consumers cancel them and rely on cell phones -- to provision new ones, says Infonetics analyst Stephane Teral.

He projects that the economic will last through 2009. "The math at the moment looks like in 2010 things will start back on track. In 2011 we'll see the real pickup and the start of deployments," Teral says.

Meanwhile, mobile carriers will likely continue to invest in IP infrastructure as demand for mobile services continues to grow. But while mobile carriers will buy more session border controllers (SBC) for negotiating connections across carrier networks and softswitches that provide intelligence for network services, those increases won't offset the decline in sales to wired carriers, he says.

Infonetics had an inkling of this decline in the second quarter when sales of SBCs dipped, indicating that carriers had enough of the devices to handle demand for IP call setups across disparate networks. "That's how we figured the VoIP subscriber rate was slowing down," he says. The trend was confirmed in third quarter with declines in sales of media gateways and softswitches, he says.