Comindico takes on AU business call market
Local calls stemming from eCall users to companies serviced by other telephone providers will also be charged at the 8 cent flat rate, with national long-distance calls charged at 6 cents per minute to non-eCall customers.
John Stuckey, chief executive officer of Comindico, says eCall will have a profound impact on the Australian telecommunications industry, injecting competition back into the communications marketplace.
"The days of national call rates are over. Any company in Australia with business grade internet access can make eCalls," said Stuckey, adding "While e-mail has changed the way businesses operate, eCall is the first step in revolutionising the way businesses are connected."
Landry Fevre, telecommunications research program manager for IDC, says the future popularity of VoIP services is undeniable but Cominidico will need to expand their workforce to support their product.
"Comindico's success will be depending on their marketing execution, they have only 30 sales people and the engagement for these type of services are time consuming, they need to work out a channel/partner strategy," said Fevre.
eCall operates on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology delivered via Comindico's IP network, similar to the systems that are being adopted across the world.
According to figures cited by Comindico, 20 percent of the world's international telephone traffic is currently carried over the Internet, with that figure expected to rise to 100 percent in the next 10 years.
Comindico plans to enter the residential VoIP market mid-year, an area that Fevre says is "exploding" at the moment.
Companies in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, China, Italy, and Japan have employed or have plans to employ a VoIP service; leading IDC to predict that Australia will mimic the world trend, with its IP telephony hardware revenue reaching a value of AU$679 million by 2006.
Fevre predicts that Comindico's eCall service will have a positive effect on the telecommunications market creating better competition amongst providers, particularly as the company has no history in telecommunications to protect.
"This is great for competition, seeing a company with no telco legacy going out there and put to the market a pure IP VoIP offering. This creates a buzz for VoIP services in Australia, this in conjunction with Request and Primus's announcement of VoDSL services should accelerate take-up this year," said Fevre.