The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) have jointly finalised the standard to connect circuit-switched and IP-based networks for voice, video, fax and data communication.
The H.248 standard will allow conventional telephone networks to interface with the Internet through low-cost gateway devices.
The H.248 standard falls under the H.323 standards family, which already provides a framework for the provision of voice over IP (VOIP). The new standard will allow current POTS networks - such as Telkom`s national telephonic network - to carry voice originated on IP to a normal telephone handset and vice versa.
The H.248 standard is expected to allow network operators to include gateway components from multiple vendors distributed across multiple physical platforms. The ITU predicts that such technology can benefit consumers by enriching service offerings and lowering costs.
Currently such switching in and switching out of the POTS network with VOIP lies in a legal grey area in SA, due to Telkom`s telecommunications monopoly. However, it is estimated that by 2004, 25% to 40% of all telephone traffic will run over Internet gateways, with a market value of $19 billion.
Some 60% of major public telecommunications operators believe that IP telephony is capable of becoming the main means of telecommunications by 2004, while 25% reckon that the majority of their voice traffic will be carried over IP, according to the ITU.
"Thanks to the close cooperation between experts in both standards organisations, a major breakthrough towards a single standard has been achieved for the benefit of the market," comments Pierre-Andre Probst, chairman of the ITU-T Study Group 16 - the group that worked with the IETF`s Megaco Working Group for over a year to finalise the standard.
"Use of packet-based networks for carrying voice and other multimedia traffic is expected to bring many new opportunities as users increasingly demand services based on the integration of voice, video, fax, data and Web services."
Telkom, MTN, Vodacom and Transtel are all members of the ITU-T.
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