Doha: An innovative, Internet Protocol (IP) Telephony services was yesterday launched by Qatar Telecom (Qtel). The service will allow businesses an access to a feature-rich solution that grows with the needs of customers without significant costs or investments.
Called the IP Telephony Centralised Solution, the system allows companies to make long distance calls by using the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), thus allowing large savings on telephone bills. Unlike free or short-lived VoIP providers, Qtel offers a permanent solutions to companies who require such a service.
Dr Nasser Marafih, CEO at Qtel, said in a statement: "Qtel-managed IP Telephony Centralised Solution can help revolutionise business communications by creating for customers the means to quickly and simply administer and re-align key call functions such as dial, transfer, call-conference, hold and retrieve functions all at the click of a mouse. As customer's needs change, then so too can their telephony requirements and specifications. We are just starting to reap the many benefits of the powerful IP solutions".
"The portfolio builds on Qtel's Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network launched in June 2004, and combines the heritage and expertise of Qtel's voice and network operations with powerful end-to-end technology from leading suppliers such as Cisco," he added.
Qtel's IP Telephony Centralised Solution allows companies to move from conventional phones to high-feature digital IP phones. The solution is fully managed with 24/7 service support enabling companies to deploy IP telephony services at a reduced cost and without distraction from their core competencies. Qtel's Network Operations Centre engineers continuously monitor network performance to ensure minimum downtime and to protect customer communications.
Through 2006, customers can expect further enhancements to the service such as voice messaging notification (via email) and voice messaging to email allowing users to listen to their voice messages on email. Moreover, 'Auto Attendant' is an automated receptionist-feature providing voice-prompts to callers advising options for transfer to another phone or voice mail box as well as how to access extension dialing, name dialing or connection to a human operator.
Khalil Al Emadi, Qtel's Executive Director for Wireline Services said: "IP Telephony is another step forward for corporate customers. We are bringing to Qatar the most advanced hosted IP Telephony managed solutions where our customers can enjoy a feature-rich telephony service.
"The shift to IP Telephony will allow businesses and corporate organisations to consolidate all their communications requirements on tone network. This will help with lowering infrastructure costs and management expenses. Customers also don't have to worry about capital expenditure, maintenance or software upgrades, as Qtel's state of the art monitoring and dedicated team of professionals will ensure our corporates enjoy the very best of what this service offers," he added.
Through integrated date applications companies can significantly boost productivity. Business customers will have a proven return on investment with quality of service mechanisms that assure voice quality that is equal if not better than standard phone services," Khalil, said.
© The Peninsula 2006
