VOIP providers need freedom

The VOIP market is booming, and the minority with 15-year-old switchboard systems do not connect many calls, according to Switch Telecom.

Any company that is unable to call 087 numbers will be at a great disadvantage, it adds.

“This begs the question why a few blocked 087 calls have become such an issue, especially when the problem is so easy to fix,” says Greg Massel, MD of Switch Telecom.

“This is a great opportunity to demonstrate, in a practical way, that companies using outdated analogue technology should seriously consider switching to VOIP-enabled PBX systems.”

The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) allocated 087 numbers to VOIP providers last year, to use them to service corporate and residential customers who prefer not to opt for traditional landlines.

VOIP providers should be entitled to provide geographic and non-geographic services to customers, using geographic and non-geographic number rangers as well as toll-free services on the 080 number range, he adds. There is no basis for restricting an ECS licensee from providing these services.

“Even in terms of the old licence categories, a VANS' right to provide VOIP services should not exclude its right to provide toll-free services, which, by their very nature, are value added,” says Massel. “Fixed line providers cannot continue to have a special position in the South African telecoms industry. If that is so, all we have done is create a duopoly out of a monopoly.”