Telecom majors to contract for VoIP

By agencies   |   Monday, 11 July 2005, 19:30 IST
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MUMBAI: India is moving ahead towards packet-based telecommunication networking, with almost every major telecom operator now contracting for VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) equipment. And, following the operators would be a whole lot of others ranging from small ISP operators to large corporates. VoIP-based equipment is more compact than the traditional switches and equipment, offers savings in capital expenditure, and provides readiness for whenever the regulations will allow full and true convergence, said Yogesh Bijlani, Country Manager, Veraz Networks. "There are bids from nearly every big operator in India for VoIP," said Amit Chawla, Global Vice-President, Marketing, Veraz. The deployment over the next year by Indian operators would be in the region of $50 million, says Chawla. Going by what VoIP solution vendors in general say, BSNL has floated a giant tender for VoIP deployment of 2,00,000 ports; VSNL is contracting for 50,000 ports; large orders from others, such as MTNL, are also in the pipeline. "Even the smallest ISP is looking at VoIP," said Ronojoy Punja, Vice-President, (Marketing) Cisco Systems India. Whether the customer is a DSL operator, metro Ethernet or other ISP operator, if they have an IP overlay, they can provide voice as an additional service, he said. An even bigger potential market exists in enterprises, says Punja. Typically they are large banks or corporates with large supplier-dealer networks who want VoIP-based networks for their internal or closed user group use; or BPOs who are looking to create a meshed network for their business with the help of VoIP equipment.