11 Nov 2006
Tehran: As UAE telecom regulators allow du and etisalat to offer services with Voice over Internet Protocol technology, in Iran competition from scores of licensed VoIP firms is driving new uses of the application.
The technology, commonly called VoIP, uses the internet to transmit telephone calls for little or no charge and has been hailed as a major developing trend in telecommunications.
In Iran, about 100 licensed companies sell VoIP calling cards to consumers, driving one Tehran-based company, Fardanesh, to seek greener pastures outside the consumer sector.
In Iran, when customers place long distance calls using these calling cards, the call is routed to these companies and their special routing equipment.
The telephone calls are converted to a standard that can be transmitted over the internet, and travel through the web to their intended destination, where similar equipment converts the call again for standard lines. The charges often amount to a fraction of what traditional long-distance calls cost.
Saeed Bonakdar, commercial manager of Fardanesh, a general trading and telecom equipment and services firm, recently completed a survey on VoIP applications to test the waters before joining this crowded field.
The system is similar to virtual private networking, by which companies link the IT systems of two remote offices safely and securely.
"Virtual private networking for VoIP was the only field of service provision that we felt was reasonable, feasible and profitable," Bonakdar said.
His company has begun selling and installing the gateway equipment for companies to make VoIP calls from makers such as Cisco Systems and Quintum.
The most commonly purchased VoIP routers for mid-sized companies cost $1,500 and can redirect eight long-distance calls simultaneously, although gateway equipment handling up to 50 calls simultaneously is also available.
The agency acts as a gatekeeper, delivering the call to the end user. Fardanesh typically buys $1,000 in calls from these agencies on behalf of its customers, bypassing traditional telecom companies.
His company has garnered a few dozen clients so far, but Bonakdar believes the potential is far greater. His feasibility study suggests a pickup of up to 30 new clients in the next six months for revenues of up to 50 million tomans, or about $54,000. "In the second six months it should go even higher," he predicted.
By Ivan Gale
Gulf News 2006. All rights reserved.
