Next-gen VOIP solutions offer theft-proof alternatives

South African companies continue to be crippled by phone line theft, an endemic problem that is disrupting vital business communications and causing thousands of rands in losses. The country's major fixed-line telephone operator, Telkom, reportedly loses on average R20 million a month as thieves continue to be lured by the copper in the cables, which they then sell to overseas buyers at premium prices. During the 2010/11 financial year, the operator spent close to R400 million on repairs and replacements alone. Over the past four years, phone line theft has cost Telkom nearly R2 billion.

Despite the adverse effect it has on South Africa's businesses and on the economy as a whole, the rampant theft continues to be a major challenge. This is one of the main reasons why local companies are increasingly eschewing traditional phone lines and switching over to voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) solutions to fulfil their voice and data needs. In order to further inspire South Africans to cut the phone cord and to make VOIP even more attractive and suitable to them, some local VOIP providers are adopting innovative next-generation technologies that take the threat of theft entirely out of the equation, explains Mitchell Barker, CEO of www.whichvoip.co.za.

One such company, BitCo, is offering "invisible lines" to businesses plagued by copper theft. The VOIP provider employs revolutionary radio wave technology that uses a series of high-point sites, such as rooftops and towers, as relay stations to transmit information to the premises of their clients. The resulting metropolitan network, based on Ethernet standards (Metro E), is fast becoming the industry standard, says Kobus Mathee, BitCo's Technical Director. "There is a lot of intelligence built into our network, with excellent backup plans and procedures in place," Mathee explains. "With this, we can guarantee uptime and service delivery. The quality of our bandwidth is of carrier grade - meaning that the quality of your calls will be excellent. We thus offer an alternative to traditional fixed lines, which are often prone to quality issues and extended downtime due to cable breaks or theft."

Barker adds that this is one small element offered by next-gen VOIP providers, and that, in addition to next-gen technology, redundancy is key.

"Disaster recovery and redundancy have become essential for businesses today, and uptime is one of the primary factors to look at when evaluating next-gen service providers."

For example, BitCo has built a disaster recovering ring into its network, which can automatically fail over its entire Johannesburg client-base and reroute traffic via Pretoria seamlessly. Michael Colin, BitCo's Sales Director, says the company's network does not restrict customers to a specific area with a specific number. "This means that our numbers can be kept for life. No matter where you move, you can take your number with you."

According to Barker, next-generation VOIP offerings are becoming essential in light of the new technologies that are increasingly permeating business today. "Bring your own device (BYOD) and mobility are changing the face of business. There's no reason that a company's telephony solution shouldn't keep up with the pace," he says.

MIA Telecoms, the sole distributor of Samsung telecommunication and PABX equipment in sub-Saharan Africa, earlier this year introduced a Samsung Communication Manager (SCM) Express edition. This pure IP-based, comprehensive "all-in-one" solution is tailored to small and mid-size businesses with less IT personnel. The system includes IP telephony, mobility, messaging, conferencing and customer contact capabilities. The company also offers a product called Mobex, which addresses the growing trend of BYOD. "Mobex essentially turns your employees' mobile phones into an extension of your company's office phone system," explains Barker.

This paired extension from an IP phone allows for full transparency from the device to the mobile device, says Bryan Driessel, Managing Director of MIA. "It works with a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), so it will work across VOIP platforms. It connects through the VOIP platform to the GSM operator. The full feature set is realised on the GSM phone, hence the GSM phone has the same feature rights as an extension on the private automatic branch exchange (PABX)."

When clients shop around for a next-generation VOIP solution, they should be on the lookout for a provider that can offer them a great variety of reliable VOIP services, says Barker. "In addition to reliable and trustworthy services, a good next-generation VOIP provider should offer increased flexibility, monitoring and transparency across the VOIP network," he says. "Companies that are looking to use 21st century technologies effectively in their business shouldn't look any further than next-gen VOIP to meet their telephony needs."