Thyson Makitla, Projects and Development Leader at O-Tel Telecoms explains:
“TVNO is a comprehensive, flexible, low-cost, feature-rich Carrier Grade VoIP Switching System which caters for every aspect of a providers strategy in deploying SIP Trunking Service.”

The IBM Servers hosting the softswitch ensures all the modules run at optimum. Authentication Engine, Signalling and Media Server are integrated into this one powerful Class 5 Switch.

An Online Billing Module has been installed to allow End-User Clients and Enterprise to Self-Provision, purchase airtime online, keep tabs on their invoices and view their Realtime CDRs from the Customer Portal.

South Africas’ future of Mobile VoIP (SIP App loaded in a smart phone) has just been made easier, as the service provides for it, and also includes a custom branded Android Application.

Other facilities include the capability to provide for Agents and Resellers where they can White Label their Cloud Segment to resell the providers services under their own brand. It also caters for the Providers Franchise strategy should he want to establish a multi-branch branded presence.

Live Call Shop, Prepaid Calling Cards, and CallBack facility are just a few of services one can offer to clients located in rural areas.

“With the growth of our Channel Partners, it was only natural that we evolved our SIP Trunking service into a fully functional switch to accommodate the many thousands of end user clients being added onto our network.” Adds Mohammad Patel, CEO of O-Tel Telecoms.

“With spiralling cloud costs, our stronger partners needed their own cloud platform where they have access to unlimited SIP Trunks and relieve their backroom staff of pressure by offering self-care online portals. All this whilst enjoying the infrastructure at a predictable fixed monthly fee.”

O-Tel offers the TVNO Service bolted onto an IBM switch in two options. The provider may self-host it or O-Tel offers hosting services at its World Class Data Center cabinets in Isando at very competitive prices.
TVNO introduction and training is given on various dated through O-Tel Webinar Service. You may register here: http://anymeeting.com/otel

For more information on the Terrestrial Virtual Network Operator (TVNO) service from O-Tel Telecoms, visit http://www.otelafrica.com/services/tvno-service/ or call 08000 6000 2.

O-Tel is offering small, medium and large call centers via Channel Partners across South Africa its full range of inbound and outbound call center solution in the cloud. This is in response to the strong demand from businesses that are seeking ways to ensure growth this year by lowering their CAPEX costs and ensuring they stay ahead of the competition by having access to the latest in Call Center Technology all the time.

O-Tel Telecoms head of Projects and Development, Thyson Makitla, is very excited for the launch.
“We’ve worked for months with our American partners to ensure O-Tel keeps its promise on delivering a Carrier Grade Cloud Call Center Service labelled as Centrex.”

Centrex allows a Call Center to be established within minutes. All the agents require is a computer. Headsets and a web connection.

Makitla adds: “ Call Center Agents can now work from anywhere, including their home. The administrator simply creates his campaign, uploads his call list to the CRM, and the agent’s login to the Unified Communication tool which includes a predictive dialler and updates the CRM whilst speaking to the client.”

It is common knowledge in the call center industry that Predictive Dialling increases productivity by 70% as the system does not allow the agents to procrastinate. Quick CRM input is also just as important as the reporting afterwards needs to show accurate results. Centrex is ideal for these functions.

Onsite enterprise grade systems with all integrated CRM, Predictive Diallers, Real Time Analytics, Voice Loggers, and Advanced Reporting can cost close to R500 000. Other Open Source solutions based on Asterisk do not offer an integrated solution, easy Graphic User Interface (GUI), and are not entirely stable. can cost in the region of R220 000.

“Centrex has been tested by various channel partners nationwide, and the response was absolutely magnificent. It is by far the most complete Call Center Service in South Africa.” states Mohammad Patel, CEO of O-Tel Telecoms.
“The service we offer includes full hosting, support assistance and is affordable, scalable and flexible. With a carrier grade backbone, we’re confident that the “recommended retail price” of R395 per seat is a huge cost saving for any Call Center, whether startup or fully operational.”

Centrex can integrate with most CRMs out there. Its built in CRM and support for vTiger seems to be sufficient for most Call Centers’ needs. Having a worldwide based clientele, it is known to work superbly with Salesforce.com, Sugar CRM and other top CRM services.

What’s more attractive is that Centrex is compliant with O-Tels’ new NGN Last Mile Connection. With the lowest concurrent call rate in the industry, it sure will keep the call center running costs as low as possible.

“We’re very excited about this long awaited product. Our partners are very enthusiastic in marketing this complete Cloud Call Center Solution.” concludes Patel.

Centrex is operational. Webinars are held regularly to demonstrate the service.

O-Tel Telecoms announced today that Mohammad Patel, Chief Executive Officer, will be presenting at the Broadband Confex, which is being held at the Sandton Convention Center on 17,18 and 19 April 2012.

The conference will examine the latest regulatory, market and technical developments affecting the broadband services in South Africa. Mr Patel will be
covering opportunities in providing voice services in under-developed areas and the challenges Service Providers face deploying VoIP services in South
Africa. The presentation will also cover a brief outlook on what to expect in digital telephony in the near future.

Broadband Confex has firmly established itself as a Premier Annual Telecom Conference which attracts high profile industry leaders such as Dr Angus Hay
from Neotel, Arthur Goldstuck of World Wide Worx, Thami Mtshali, Iburst CEO, WAPA Chairperson Christopher Geerdts and other senior management from Cell
C, Telkom, Sentech, ICASA, and Seacom, amongst others, to speak and give the current and future views on South Africa’s Telecom Landscape.

The 3 day event promises to be very informative, ensuring the delegates leave the conference with a wealth of knowledge.

Interested visitors can register online at www.broadbandconfex.co.za

Mr Patels’ video of the presentation will also be available a week after the conference on O-Tel’s youtube.com video channel.

More information can be obtained from www.otelafrica.com

M&A activity is not new for the Telecoms industry, especially with the increased emphasis on building Telecoms Infrastructure to encourage Telecoms independence and increase competition to the incumbents.

According to Mohammad Patel, CEO of O-Tel Telecoms, ” Mergers and acquisitions enable companies to increase their scale, reduce costs, as well as improve their access to capital, equipment, valuable skills and expertise, which in turn leads ideally to increased profits and service levels. These factors have led many industry participants, from small cap to large cap, to discover growth opportunities from both inside and outside of M&A transactions as they work to increase shareholder value.”

Recent deals such as O-Tels acquisition of Rheid Communications in 2011, and Reunerts acquisition of ECN to boost its fading Nashua Mobile LCR base, illustrate the value placed on consolidation as a key strategy for long-term growth.

Patel adds,   “You need to have scale to be able to bear the risks that you are going to need to be able to deploy cloud services, inter-connect, increase subscribers, changing LCR income etc. It also helps companies to diversify its portfolio by finding a complimentary firm and increasing overall scale.”

O-Tel offers a full array of VoIP services such as 1Cloud Hosted PBX, SIP Trunking, Fax over IP, and the soon to be launched Centrex Cloud Call Center to a network of partners nationwide. These partners are in the PBX, IT Service, LCR, Wireless and ISP field. The VoIP services are securely backhauled into the companys’ national MPLS infrastructure.  An enterprise internet breakout facility has recently been enabled to allow maximum usage of the backhaul link.

“Since 2008, O-Tel has constantly been upgrading its network to meet thousands of clients demand. O-Tel currently possesses a respectable and stable carrier grade network which has cost much money and time to establish. To maximise Return on Investment (ROI) we need to rapidly add more users to our already sizeable database.  This can be done either via a) O-Tel acquiring players in the PBX/LCR industry who owns an established database and wish for a smooth transition into the Digital Telephony era, or b) a merger with a larger company who has a substantial dealer database and wish to add more value by offering Cloud telecom services.” explains Mohammad Patel.

O-Tels acquisition of Rheid Communications last year transitioned very smoothly, with O-Tel filtering out the end users and keeping the resellers. O-Tels high quality VoIP and value added services enabled these former Rheid resellers to grow from strength to strength, receiving promotion to partner level. Today, they handle hundreds of clients, and port a sizeable batch of numbers monthly. Their profitability has also trebled with the aid of O-Tels world class 24/7 Automated Billing System and efficient procedures.

“There’s an exciting time ahead. We’ve already been in talks with various JSE listed companies, but O-Tel’s exploration is focused on acquiring or merging with companies who share a similar vision of rocketing the local telecoms industry into “The Cloud”  by offering cloud based telephony services via a national partner/reseller network.” concludes Patel.

O-Tel will extend its VoIP backhaul capacity by deploying extended fibre bandwidth pipe to allow for higher call concurrency, aggregated by its partner’s wireless networks – the valuable last mile connection to the customers location. This last mile connection is valuable as there is no other infrastructure providing the customers with connectivity. This advanced platform, which will be deployed in the first half of 2012, will enable the network to seamlessly accommodate growth where traffic demand is the greatest.

“We’re constantly seeking to improve the O-Tel IP network to support traffic growth, improve performance and increase functionality,” said Mohammad Patel, chief executive officer of O-Tel Telecoms. “Upgrading the network using a fibre platform provides better scale and expanded capabilities that support traffic growth areas such as VoIP call concurrency and broadband access.”

O-Tel will deploy multiple fibre nodes for redundancy, where the partners plan to work together to ensure 99.5% uptime. With the influx of new subscribers, and hundreds of Telkom numbers being ported due to the lack of service provision from the incumbent, O-Tel Telecoms is surely captivating and maintaining a huge market share in those areas.

Roland Meister

“Since partnering up with O-Tel Telecoms, we’ve seen our VoIP Value Added service flourish. We’ve grown to such an extent within few months that we’re looking at upgrading our billing infrastructure to accommodate the massive growth.”  said Roland Meister, Managing Direct, IP Fone PMB. “Our fibre connection provides crystal clear voice quality, which our customers are impressed with. We cannot keep up with the demand of new lines and VoIP services within our coverage areas.”

This upgrade is just a further step motivating O-Tel’s long term strategy in deploying extended services in Durban where fibre will be the primary choice of connection. Talks are under way to establish a formal presence at Teraco’s newsly established Data Centre in Riverhorse Valley, Durban.

Mr Patel concludes: “Deploying our network and services in KZN certainly has it challenges, but we’re jumping each hurdle successfully. We’ve already bagged the market share in Pietermaritzburg and surrounding areas. Within a short period, we will certainly gain much more of Durbans market share, as our strong, world class fibre connections will provide reliable and stable VoIP, 1Cloud Hosted PBX and soon Centrex Cloud Call Centre Service.”

The Licensed Provider provides white-labelled VoIP infrastructure to a large number of Wireless Internet Service Providers as well as PBX and IT Service Providers using it’s inter-connect with all the large providers and its Cloud Based Telephony Infrastructure.

Predominantly, the service partners connect to O-Tel’s switches via load balanced ADSL lines running within O-Tel’s Private MPLS, allowing for higher quality voice and more stability without the call breaking out on the internet. This has worked phenomenally well for O-Tel, resulting in near 40% growth year-on-year.

With O-Tel partners growing their database at a very fast rate, and Telkom’s ADSL exchanges taking strain due to the increased broadband usage in South Africa, the ADSL backhaul was greatly affected causing degradation of voice quality and decrease in connection stability at some busy exchanges.

”It was inevitable, the backhaul capacity had to be increased to accommodate the thousands of end points on our network, comprising of SME/Corporate/Government and end-users. We’ve already upgraded our switches during last quarter, 4 months in advance, so this upgrade does not come as a surprise.” Comments Mohammad Patel, CEO of O-Tel Telecoms.

O-Tel has chosen to install dependable Cisco CPEs at its clients, which will connect via Telkom’s proven, tried and tested national network. Wireless and redundancy This move is in line with O-Tels strategy to enter the Triple Play market in the near future. The revolution has already begun with the introduction of Video Calling last month amongst other services such as 1Cloud Hosted PBX and SIP Trunking.

“With our large volume, we’ve struck a good deal with SA’s largest telecom infrastructure provider to offer our client the service at half the recommended retail price. All of a sudden, stable and clear telephony is now affordable. We’re adding more value by offering Enterprise Grade uncapped internet included in the service. ” adds Patel.

Although the service is aimed at upgrading the partners backhaul from ADSL to Leased Line, O-Tel is confident that the corporate and SME clientele will find the service affordable, especially if they are using O-Tel’s 1Cloud Hosted PBX service.

“Implementation of this Leased Line network is a leap forward in our national infrastructure, giving true crystal clear speech quality without call cutting, fading, or echo.” Concludes Patel, “We will be motivating many thousands of clients to move their connectivity from ADSL to Leased Line over the next 18 months. We sincerely hope the incumbent can cope to deploy swiftly so we can meet our target.”

Deployment has already begun. The full costing of the service can be found on O-Tel website or at this link: http://www.otelafrica.com/services/leased-line/

O-Tel’s Video Calling service was launched over breakfast and lunch on 3rd November in Sandton, hosted by OJO Africa, part of the Blue Label Group.
Mariano Bruni, Managing Director of OJO Africa gave an informative presentation.

Mr Bruni comments: “Experience a real, true-to-life video connection with the OJO Vision Digital Video Phone giving you the power to stay in touch with the important people in your life, face-to face, no matter where they are.”

The video calling service is designed to eliminate the barriers to connect customers, suppliers and partners, enabling business to business communications anytime, anywhere. Supported by OJO’s leading Video Phone, and O-Tel’s industry leading infrastructure, users will be empowered with an always on, always available fully supported video calling solution.

As a carrier grade commercial service, O-Tel now offers a stable and functioning video calling compared to the free American based options. Latency, lag and video quality is optimal with a local broadband connection to O-Tel’s local data center. The service supports all connectivity and allows multiple participants to connect from any location in the world using all forms of video, web and telephony.

“O-Tel Video Calling is a secure, scalable reservationless video communications solution that is competitively priced and offers predictable monthly costs,” said Mohammad Patel, CEO of O-Tel Telecom.  “Designed to work on O-Tel’s 1Cloud Hosted PBX South African platform simply re-affirms the service to be South Africa’s most innovative and leading Hosted PBX solution. “

O-Tel plans to offer an introductory promotion where no extra charge will be applicable to Video Calling. The telephones can be obtainable from OJO, or your nearest O-Tel Telecom partner.

With the low interconnect rates, it has been widely acknowledged that GSM LCR’s days are numbered as providers move towards VoIP based solutions. O-Tel began this process a couple of years ago, reducing the workload on it GSM Banks and routing all the GSM calls via its IP Interconnects with the Providers. However, the infrastructure still remains active, and O-Tel plans to de-commission the GSM Switches by end of February 2012.

“Our Carrier Grade GSM Banks has served us faithfully over the years to provide Least Cost Routing to our clients. However, we’ve noticed that in the last 4 months the major shift from clients connecting their Legacy or Hybrid PBX to our CheapCall ( www.cheapcall.co.za) and SIP Trunk (www.siptrunk.co.za ) service, with some opting to go fully digital on our 1Cloud Hosted PBX ( www.1cloud.co.za)  Solutions,” comments Mohammad Patel, CEO of O-Tel Telecom.

Many PBX Reseller and LCR Specialists are using O-Tels LCR PLUS ( www.lcrplus.co.za )  service when moving their clients from the GSM modules over to VoIP. Some of their client contracts expire only in 2012, so the service has been beneficial. With the interconnect rate dropping again on 1st March 2012 to 56c for Vodacom and MTN and 64c for CellC and 8-Ta, it will surely mean the end of the faithful old PremiCell service.

This service is available to all VoIP service users who have devices which can accomodate multiple trunks, such as newer SIP capable Legacy PBXs, Asterisk PBX and VoIP Gateways.

Signup to the month to month short term contract is done online. Out of bundle rates remain same at 76c and top ups can be purchased directly online via EFT.

For more information, please visit www.lcrplus.co.za and signup for this superb package.

Otel Telecom Pietermartizburg coverage

Partnering with KZNs well established and respected Wireless Internet Service Providers and PABX Specialists, O-Tel is providing services to clients where copper telephones lines were stolen and are not being replaced. Businesses have struggled due to poor telecommunications. Fax facilities, Voice, and other services such as PBX were non-existent until now. The project which began in March 2011 has been met with much success.

Mike Lauterbach, MD of Edelnet, an O-Tel partner involved in the PMB Project, explains: “Some clients have been without Telkom for months, on and off.  The areas we operate in are mostly agricultural, with bigger businesses scattered in-between. There are other service providers in our area, and it is easy to supply good products, but harder to supply good service, so our approach has been to focus on service levels. This is now paying off.”

O-Tel Telecom kept its position as the dominant VoIP Infrastructure provider in South Africa during 2011. Having reached its target 4 months before projected date, O-Tel attributes much of the success to its 1Cloud Hosted PBX Service launched in January.

Struggling to keep up with the demand is Bundu Networx, led by Brian Olson. “We’re focusing on rural communities using our Wireless Network,” comments Olson, “Currently, we are reacting to line theft and poor service from Telkom in these rural areas.” BunduNet is expanding their network to cater for the increase in clientele.

Some of the areas O-Tel currently covers with the aid of its partners are: Camperdown, Cato Ridge, Wartburg, Dalton, Fawnleas, New Hanover, Cramond, Gilboa, Pietermaritzburg, Nottingham Road, Kamberg, Loteni, Mooi River, Mount West, Lidgetton, Balgowan, Lions River and parts of Dargle. Eston, Mid-Illovo.

Mohammad Patel, CEO of O-Tel Telecom is anticipating further growth. “The number of service activations in KZN has been phenomenal! We’ve ported tons of 031 and 033 numbers from Telkom due to their poor service delivery in the area. We’ve already applied for a larger Fibre Backhaul Connection to the main O-Tel switches to accommodate the increase in demand. We’ve cemented ourselves as the VoIP leaders in the area, particularly in Pietermaritzburg. Our quality, service and pricing is truly superior to competitors. Our market share proves it.”

O-Tel has been reaching far and wide places deploying services to the rural areas, with the aid of many WAPA members who have found O-Tels VoIP infrastructure to fit the WISP model perfectly. As one of the few success stories since VANS had their licences changed to IECNS, O-Tel Telecom is sure making a mark in South Africas’ Telecommunication Sector.

Whilst increasing its ‘infrastructure-as-a-service’ portfolio, O-Tel Telecom can now provide licensed VoIP providers with termination of their calls at inter-connect rates.

“Our partnership program has grown up. We’ve had providers who started off with O-Tel renting 5 sip accounts and have grown today to service 500 sip accounts,” comments Mohammad Patel, CEO of O-Tel Telecom.

To accommodate the growth, O-Tel now offers dedicated co-located VoIP switches. Some O-Tel partners outside Gauteng prefer to host their own switches and connect via the O-Tel Dedicated Leased Line service.

Mr Patel adds: The Victoria VoIP transit Station is the perfect turnkey solution for VoIP providers wanting to quickly deploy carrier grade voice solutions, consolidating their multiple provider channels into one, or upgrading their reseller status to Bonafide VoIP Provider, enjoying direct billing hence increasing profitability.

Current services include broadband connection via internet, diginet, leased line, wireless, peering, geographic numbers, number porting, and some others.

The Victoria Station service will soon allow propagation of the providers ICASA allocated numbers.

Providers will be charged per port usage, and market related transit fees in addition to the ICASA regulated inter-connect rate. Non-license holders will be charged an added transit fee to separate them from the licensed operators.

In brief, the location of Victoria VoIP station at Gauteng’s central internet exchange places the service in an ideal position to provide multiple providers the opportunity to quickly deploy an effective voice service and benefit the consumer by enhancing the industry with competitive products.

Similar VoIP Stations will soon be deployed at Cape Town and Durban internet exchanges.

“O-Tel continues to lead with innovative ‘infrastructure-as-a-service solutions’. Providing stable carrier grade infrastructure to providers at a low ‘pay-as-you-grow monthly’ fee can only ultimately benefit consumers and businesses alike who will enjoy lower telecom costs.” concludes Mr Patel

Sales enquiries can either be made from the website at www.otelafrica.com, or emailed to sales@otelafrica.com

Victoria Station