South African SMBs attracted to low-cost VoIP services

Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in South Africa are increasingly switching over to low-cost VoIP services, it has been claimed.

The technology is gradually becoming more mainstream in the country, while there is also a growing network infrastructure to support IP telephony solutions.

Louise Hepburn, telecommunications product manager at Itec, expressed her belief that firms are attracted to the cheaper technology, which is often around 30 per cent lower than traditional phone operators.

She told itweb.co.za: "Call costs in the VoIP environment are transparent and many service providers give customers access to powerful web-based tools that let them track and manage their spending.

"Today, VoIP is a mature and robust technology that is delivering significant benefits and savings to businesses of all sizes."

Ms Hepburn added that SMBs can also make savings on cabling as their voice and data network can be deployed over a single wire.