With the low interconnect rates, it has been widely acknowledged that GSM least cost routing (LCR) days are numbered, as providers move towards VOIP-based solutions.
banks and routing all the GSM calls via its IP interconnects with the providers. However, says the telecoms company, the infrastructure still remains active, and O-Tel plans to decommission the GSM switches by the end of February 2012.
CEO of O-Tel Mohammad Patel says: “Our carrier grade GSM Banks have served us faithfully over the years to provide LCR to our clients. However, we've noticed that in the last four months, [there's been a] major shift from clients connecting their Legacy or Hybrid PBX to our CheapCall and SIP Trunk service, with some opting to go fully digital on our 1Cloud Hosted PBX solutions."
Patel says many PBX reseller and LCR specialists are using O-Tel's LCR Plus service when moving their clients from the GSM modules over to VOIP.
“Some of their client contracts only expire in 2012, so the service has been beneficial. With the interconnect rate dropping again on 1 March 2012 to 56c for Vodacom and MTN, and 64c for CellC and 8ta, it will surely mean the end of the faithful old PremiCell service. This service is available to all VOIP service users who have devices that can accommodate multiple trunks, such as newer SIP capable Legacy PBXes, Asterisk PBX and VOIP gateways.”
Patel says sign-up to the month-to-month short-term contract is done online. “Out of bundle rates remain the same at 76c, and top ups can be purchased directly online via EFT.”
More information can be found at www.lcrplus.co.za.
Share