Hosted VoIP

Seizing a cost-saving technology that appears to be gaining traction in this slower economy, a South African service provider this week selected an Israel-based company’s VoIP solution suite.

 

Officials at Amatole Telecoms say they chose the so-called “Essentra” solution from VocalTec Communications Ltd. because it integrates well into their WiMAX (News - Alert) network.

 

According to Bevan Booy, Amatole’s chief operating officer, VocalTec’s (News - Alert) VoIP technology will bring voice services to underserved areas – an initiative that’s in line with the Eastern Cape Provincial Government’s ICT strategy to bridge the digital divide.

 

“Using VocalTec’s solutions, we will be able to serve our residential and business customers with high quality voice services at affordable prices, while obtaining the operational flexibility to quickly add new services,” Booy said.

 

Specifically, the project will see the deployment of VocalTec’s VoIP solution over Amatole Telecoms’ WiMAX carrier-grade, converged IP network. The complete VoIP infrastructure is expected to bring subscriber services at reduced cost, while enhancing service flexibility as well as the rapid deployment of value-adding services and applications.

 

VoIP technology – which generally refers to the delivery of voice communications over IP networks, such as the Internet – got a shot in the arm earlier this month with a 15 percent uptick in attendance at the industry’s premier event, the Internet Telephony Conference and Expo. As Rich Tehrani (News - Alert), president of TMC – the company that hosted the event – writes here today, dozens of blog entries and news articles came out of the ITEXPO (News - Alert) hailing the show as a place where vendors, manufacturers, resellers and others did business.

 

For VocalTec, Amatole’s implementation is an excellent example of how WiMAX service providers in emerging markets can bundle voice services to improve their competitiveness, while leveraging the investment in their existing infrastructure with a fast ROI.

 

Part of the company’s Essentra solution is a SIP media gateway controller, diagrammed by VocalTec here:

 

 

Ido Gur, president and chief executive officer of the company, said he was “pleased” that the Essentra solution was selected by Amotole Telecoms “as the infrastructure for providing VoIP services to under-served regions in South Africa.”

 

“We look forward to expanding this partnership and our further success in the region,” he said.