OFCOM, the telecoms watchdog, is to launch an examination of the internet calls market, which it believes will make “significant inroads” into Britain over the next few years.

The regulator’s inquiry comes as Google, the internet search giant, became the latest company to launch a web-based telephone service.

The Google Talk service will allow users to talk to each other over the internet. They will need only a broadband connection, computer and Google’s Gmail service.

Though web-based phone services are already popular in countries such as the United States and Japan, so far they have been slow to catch on in Britain, partly because the uptake of broadband had a slow start.

Ofcom wants to collect reliable and accurate data on the service and intends to focus more intensively on gathering information this year. It says that, at present, data are scarce and “the need for accurate and timely information is increasingly important”.

Analysts said that the regulator was likely to investigate the type of consumer attracted to web-based calls, usage, the potential size of the market and the type of service and consumer protection on offer. Significantly, it is likely to look at the impact that such services will have on traditional fixed-line players, such as British Telecom.

Although BT maintains that voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) technology, as it is known, is not a threat and has launched its own internet services, some analysts predict that a surge in uptake of Skype and other services will hit the carrier’s revenues.

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