VoxTelecom ties up SS7 interconnect with Vodacom

Leading voice solutions provider VoxTelecom, part of AltX-listed DataPro Group, has completed Signalling System 7 (SS7) interconnection with Vodacom South Africa.

VoxTelecom can now offer comprehensive high-quality, voice services across several different technical platforms.

"SS7 is a set of communications protocols that is used to set up most of the world`s public switched and GSM-interconnect telephone calls," explains VoxTelecom MD Jaco Voigt.

"Telkom uses it, as do all three of our cellular networks: MTN, Vodacom and Cell C. For VoxTelecom, using SS7 enables us to connect to the GSM networks in the same way as other major carriers to deliver a seamless, 100% comparable service."

VoxTelecom is the first VOIP network in South Africa to complete SS7 interconnection with Vodacom, and Voigt predicts few of his competitors will be able to muster the skills and capital to follow suit.

"It`s a technically complicated project that requires a significant investment," he says. "The next year is going to see a real shakeout in the VOIP industry between those who can offer carrier-class service and those offering a cheap Internet-based solution. Interconnection has a significant influence on call quality and not many local players have the skills and the financial depth to make it work."

Voigt says VoxTelecom can now offer its customers not only high-quality calls, but also a single 087 number per subscriber that will remain consistent across networks, enabling caller ID and other value-added services at no cost.

"Caller ID and the ability to issue numbering have been big pieces of missing functionality for least-cost routing (LCR) and VOIP services so far," says Voigt. "But it can be very important to a business - few senior people will accept unknown calls - so it`s an important part of our value-added services that just isn`t possible without the interconnect. It`s a service that least-cost routing devices can`t match."

From now on, says Voigt, VoxTelecom`s customers "can literally choose what quality and functionality they`re willing to pay for".

Voigt says the move will also ease bandwidth constraints for the cellular operators. "Instead of using the GSM network to originate and terminate a call, we`re able to aggregate calls over our IP network and deliver them directly into the GSM core network. That will reduce network overload and contribute to a better user experience."