It has been dubbed ‘The VoIP Revolution’ and ‘Telecom’s biggest threat’ but what is VoIP and how is it going to change the way we make calls?
A new Belgian phone company, Nomado Telecom, were set to become a thorn in the side of many existing mobile networks yesterday when they announced the development of the new iNomado – a software application developed for the Apple iPhone which promises to cut the cost of many users’ phone calls by up to 80%.
Whilst traditional telecom companies hold the monopoly over the networks normally used to place calls on a cell phone, Nomado’s service enables users to place their calls via a WiFi connection, bypassing traditional cellular networks and making huge savings on call charges at the same time. Calls made via Nomado’s cellular VoIP service starts from just 0,025 € per minute to other mobiles (including countries such as the U.S and Hong Kong) and are free between fellow Nomado users. This is VoIP technology in action; the use of a mobile phone’s WiFi internet connection to dodge most of their service provider’s fees, thereby saving a fortune on cell-phone calls. Sales of phones with WiFi capability have been growing steadily over the past few years, (up 327% from 2005 to 2007) allowing companies such as Nomado to step in and offer their services to a greater number of cell-phone users than ever before.
Not only that, but VoIP technology promises to eliminate the international roaming fees that have become the bane of many cell phone users in recent years. When you’re using a VoIP connection, every phone call uses the same network via WiFi, regardless of where you are in the world – in effect, VoIP makes every call a local call. This is ideal for expatriates, globetrotting businesspeople, backpackers who like to keep in touch with home or indeed anyone who simply wants to avoid the exorbitant charges of traditional cell phone operators whose roaming fees typically cost $1.25 (0,85€) per minute.
This is all part of what has become known as “The VoIP revolution”, also known as “telecom’s biggest threat”. VoIP advocates highlight its cost-effectiveness and simplicity as being the two features that may soon allow pioneering companies such as Nomado to field a real challenge to the industry giants. According to cellular-news.com, the statistics reflect this growth: “Research reports that worldwide revenue from hosted VoIP and managed IP PBX services jumped 52% to $24 billion in 2007 after surging 66% in 2006, and is expected to grow in the strong double-digits through at least 2011.” Nomado Telecom, Europe’s leading provider of Internet telephony services, will begin distribution of their industry-shaking new service “iNomado” from 25th September 2008 via the AppStore, download centre of iPhone applications.
However, VoIP technology isn’t ready to take over just yet. The VoIP providers are unable to offer a static cell phone number to their users. That means that even when you switch to their service, your old cell phone number will remain the same and if your provider charges you for receiving calls over their network, those charges will remain.
Yet, for many, the new cell-phone service offered by pioneering small companies has proven alluring. The service offered by Nomado is already working and popular amongst users of Nokia, Samsung, HTC and other Smartphones. However, according to Olivier Vermeersch, founder of Nomado Telecom, “BlackBerry users who are already using nomado mobility™ are strongly encouraging us to develop an application compatible with RIM Blackberry VoIP services as well, we will also work on it in the near future. In short, there has been a lot of demand for the service.”
All in all, the popularity of VoIP technology is on the rise and profits in the sector have been forecast to follow. With services such as Nomado’s continually innovating and investing in newer and more effective telecoms solutions such as these, the trend seems set to continue well into the future.
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