New alliance broadens Tiscali`s communications offering

South African communications company, Tiscali, has formed an alliance with Definity Telecom, which will offer a new range of telecommunication services to companies wanting to reduce call costs.

Tiscali subscribers have immediate access to the new least-cost routing services and can enjoy the convenience of a single monthly communications bill.

Says Michele Kember, customer relationship manager at Tiscali: "We are constantly on the lookout for new ways of bringing our client base the latest technology and the alliance with Definity is a good example.

"Our subscribers have us as a single point of contact for an ever-growing variety of convenient communications solutions," she says.

Many South African firms are unaware that they can reduce the cost of their telephone bills by as much 30% by using a technology called least-cost routing. Instead of calls being carried by the local fixed network operator, calls to cellphones are routed over cellular networks while international calls are routed via a globally connected telecommunications carrier.

Kember says many companies around the world route their voice calls over the Internet, which is cheaper but this is illegal in SA.

"The best option is to use least-cost routing for calls," she says.

"In many large organisations, the corporate PABX traditionally routes calls to cellphones or international destinations over Telkom`s network. Using our solutions, cellular calls are routed over Vodacom`s network at a reduced cost and international calls are routed over networks run by global connectivity heavyweights for a significant reduction in cost."

Wayne Gordon, managing director of Definity Telecom, the company that has partnered with Tiscali to offer the solution, says businesses are looking for innovative ways to manage their cellular and international phone traffic, which is growing fast.

"We analyse the telephone traffic that large companies generate and then tailor a solution to reduce the cost. By re-routing telecommunication traffic over the appropriate networks, traditionally expensive calls - like those to international destinations or cellphones - can be brought down significantly," he says.