MTN this morning became the first operator in SA to launch push-to-talk (PTT) technology, a VOIP business communications tool that allows groups of people to communicate simultaneously over the GPRS network.
Available internationally since at least 2004, PTT is widely used by events organisers, safety and security services, transport, mining, manufacturing, construction and logistics companies and other organisations that need to allow multiple people to communicate quickly, on either a one-to-one or one-to-many basis.
MTN corporate business unit executive Buckley McGrath, says MTN has had the technology for the past 18 months, and has been trialing and refining it over that period. Pilots were undertaken with, among other companies, the Ironman event organisers and the Road Traffic Management Corporation over the Easter weekend.
PTT enables MTN cellphone users to communicate quickly and seamlessly with one or a group of subscribers at the same time, using a designated PTT button on their handsets, says McGrath. "It is available wherever MTN has GPRS (general packet radio service) network coverage, which is almost a million square kilometres of SA's physical land area."
According to a statement released by the company: "The conversation is within a closed user group (a maximum of up to 20 users are predetermined by a company manager) and is totally secure. Other features of PTT include: detection of user presence, which allows you to see which members of a group are available even before you press the PTT button; auto-answer, where the caller is immediately connected to the recipient; invitation messages similar to voicemail alerts, for users already involved in one PTT conversation to join another; and a feature called floor control, which allows only one user to speak at any given time, which is particularly useful when you have a large group of people on the same conversation. The selected speaker can talk for a maximum of 20 seconds at each push, before releasing the button to wait for a response."
PTT is immediately available via MTN. The company says it is providing a "complete solution", including handsets with the dedicated PTT key, and customised subscription packages, depending on business requirements. Users are charged each time they push the button, not for the amount of time the message takes. The package can also be customized, depending on whether the company will be listening in or initiating the communication, MTN states.
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