"One day soon voice will be an oil slick floating atop a sea of data," a former telco executive remarked several years ago. We are not quite yet there yet. But data network services are currently growing at a much faster rate than voice networks, mainly due to the growth of the Internet.

The growth of IP VPN and fast Ethernet interworking services will help to boost Canadian data communications revenue to C$6.8-billion in 2004. Although growth of this critical segment will slow later in the forecast period as legacy services begin to be retired at a greater rate, IDC Canada estimates the data market segment will have revenue of C$11-billion in 2008 with a five-year CAGR of 12.4 per cent.