Use of VoIP phones may mean cheaper calls to South Africa

Opportunities to save money on international calls to South Africa by using IP telephony solutions could soon become increasingly common.

The deregulation of VoIP solutions in South Africa has created new openings in the country for the VoIP provider community, Nology has said.

Since deregulation a couple of years ago, the number of VoIP carriers in South African has grown steadily, according to the broadband, networking and communication solutions provider.

This has increased competition in the SA VoIP market, leading to downward pressure on prices, which has made VoIP "a more affordable option than before".

The landing of the Seacom cable - a fibre optic cable providing high capacity bandwidth to Southern Africa, East Africa, Europe, and South Asia - last year has removed another barrier to VoIP adoption in South Africa.

This improved broadband infrastructure has made VoIP more attractive to businesses as they can now get the quality of service needed to conduct mission-critical conversations via VoIP.

VoIP phones and other alternatives to traditional landline and mobile networks are increasingly being used to make international telephone calls, IT industry analyst firm Ovum said recently.