The emergence of packaged data and voice services in the local market is a positive development. However, more needs to be done to make voice over IP (VOIP) services - like iBurst's latest voice offering - competitive with international counterparts, say industry insiders.
These comments follow iBurst's Monday launch of iCall - a voice offering using VOIP technology.
While the company claims South Africans can save at least 15% on telephony costs, users of alternative services like Skype and MWeb's Broadband Talk say these promised savings are not good enough.
iBurst says compared to using a traditional fixed-line phone, iCall subscribers will save 17% on calls to South African cellphones, 15% on national calls and upwards of 70% to many international destinations.
However, telecommunications commentators note iCall's rates are higher than those of international VOIP service provider Skype and local player MWeb.
More than cost
Cost of calls should not be the only consideration for customers evaluating iCall, says Antony McKechnie, head of product development at iBurst.
"Skype and other VOIP services are applications that need to contend with Internet data traffic for enough capacity to deliver a quality call. In many cases, calls to SA will be routed halfway across the world and back. iCall uses Internet bandwidth not shared with iBurst's usual data bandwidth," he says.
While dedicated bandwidth could lead to improved quality of service, MyADSL founder Rudolph Muller is uncertain whether the routing mechanisms will be much different.
"iBurst is not disclosing the name of the third party terminating its outgoing calls. This could be because this third party is an international service provider - it could even be Skype. We will need to see proof of improved quality of service before it can be claimed," says Muller.
Incoming calls would not always be limited to other iCall subscribers either, as McKechnie says it has been allocated a range of 087 numbers by ICASA.
"We are in negotiations with Telkom, Neotel, Vodacom, MTN and Cell C for direct interconnects. Once these are in place, iCall subscribers will be able to receive calls from these networks on their 087 iCall number," he explains.
Addressing concerns that iBurst may begin to monitor traffic for non-iCall voice traffic, McKechnie says the company will not place restrictions on alternative VOIP users.
"There are currently independent VOIP services providers whose customers use iBurst for voice. VOIP is one of the benefits of broadband and we consider it a key value-added service that will assist to lower the cost of telecoms for consumers and businesses," he concludes.
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