Session initiation protocol a substitute for LCR

Considering market dynamics it is no longer viable for the telecommunications sector to push least cost routing (LCR) into the market going forward. In fact, the LCR business model can be considered 'deceased'.

This is the sentiment of MTN Business - one that has allowed them to showcase a strong proactive approach to delivering real value to the marketplace; a value that is underpinned by services and solutions and reducing overall communication expenditure.

To this end, MTN Business is replacing legacy LCR deployments with solutions that offer a more cost effective option for customers, such as session initiation protocol (SIP) trunking. "This allows for the ability to reduce our fixed line calling costs for customers, which we did again by almost 20% in March 2012," says Angela Gahagan-Thomson, managing executive of MTN Business. "Today, we are significantly cheaper in the VoIP space than the rates being offered by our competitors, despite recent announcements."

SIP is more cost effective

Telecommunication providers must look at the next wave of technologies for their customers, which follows on from LCR - technology such as SIP trunking - which MTN Business believe is changing the way in which inbound and outbound communication is experienced for all call types.

"Delivered to a customer using a combination of IP technologies that improves the quality of voice, SIP trunking is notably more cost effective than traditional LCR," continues Gahagan-Thomson. "In fact, SIP trunking is well proven internationally where most carriers now offer it due to its ability to provide costs savings. Locally, this is evident with MTN Business. A fixed voice call on the MTN Business network during office hours to Vodacom and MTN networks costs only 72c per minute, while a local or regional call to a Telkom network costs 26c per minute."