Bangladesh grants VOIP licences

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) has begun issuing voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) telephony licences to ISPs, reports Telegeography.

BTRC chairperson Zia Ahmed says the first batch of 32 VOIP concessions will be followed shortly by more licence awards, and that the first services will appear on the market soon.

Up to 200 illegal VOIP providers are currently operating in Bangladesh, connecting incoming international calls from prepaid card users, mainly via VSAT links. The use of VSAT for voice services is not permitted under the IPTSP regulations.

Although the initial hype around mobile VOIP has subsided, the hope to create a winning Internet voice business remains as strong as ever among an ambitious group of start-ups, writes Unstrung.

They still see a market - albeit a transformed one - for the disruptive technology and continue to drive cracks into the circuit-switched voice fortress of mobile phone operators.

Many of these start-ups are broadening into new services. To them, mobile VOIP is no longer a cheap telephone call - it is a key component in a blend of integrated IP-based communications, including voice-enhanced IM and voice mashups.

Barracuda Networks has unveiled CudaTel, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company that will bring to market the CudaTel Communication Server, a VOIP PBX offering for businesses, states Marketwire.

CudaTel Communication Server is based on an open source platform called FreeSwitch and enables video conferencing controlled via a Web interface.

Dean Drako, president and CEO of Barracuda Networks, says: "We believe that the strong FreeSwitch open source platform provides a solid base upon which we will build a seamless video and voice communication offering for customers.”