Becoming a VoIP Provider

[sicelo.m]

I work for a traditional Telco (PSTN) outside of SA, and a colleague from one of the departments approached me for some ideas/suggestions regarding providing VoIP services. He asked me because he knew I have some Asterisk experience on Linux. Of course they're not looking run something like that for their department, as they require 'proven' or 'carrier-grade' solutions.

Would you have any suggestions for us? That is, where to start if we want to become the next SwitchTel/Voxxx/etc.? Some specific hardware suggestions, or providers we could use, etc. would be appreciated.

For some reason I found it hard to formulate this question, and may have left out some required/useful details. Please let me know if any additional information is needed

 

[HartsockZA]

We looked at this about a year or 2 ago, with very mixed feelings as there are quite a few vendors in the SA market already with heavily competitive rates and different apps to cater for the market. But if it's something for your own country then yea there's a number of ways of doing it. Youtube is a great helper in finding the right equipment namely crosstalk solutions for an idea. Hope it helps

 

[Went_For_Beer]

Look at the Porta platform to host your accounts, your big issue is going to be getting cross-connects with the different providers.

PortaOne Pricing Page | Always the Best-Valued Solutions

Fair and transparent pricing for any kind of solutions. Choose whether to pay for a one-time unlimited license or a subscription fee. Best value for money!

www.portaone.com

 

[sicelo.m]

Thanks, will look at that too.

Just to clarify - this is for the country's POTS/PSTN provider, meaning inter-connecting with other providers is not an issue at all, as they already have PSTN infrastructure. The project/research is about adding VoIP services on top of existing functionality and infrastructure. Even the VoIP hardware/software would connect via E1/PRI/MGCP, not SIP, as there are some problems with the existing SBC.

 

[yogidabear]

More than a decade ago this was the same answer Portaone. Would be impressive if they still the industry standard, and revert back if you find different.

 

[sicelo.m]

Thank you. I mentioned Portaone to my colleague, and he contacted them and found them to be a really great provider. I would say indeed they are still an industry standard

However, they are overkill for the current need. Their solution requires complete replacement of the existing infrastructure. It appears they do not provide it in 'parts,' so to speak.

Basically we have old PSTN/POTS, and we currently want to plug VoIP into it. Cost is a major factor here, so we are not in a position to completely revamp the existing PSTN service. (Thing is - we are a state-backed Telco in the country, and like most state-backed enterprises in Africa, we face extreme financial challenges, mostly due to corruption).

So back to original question - what service providers/hardware providers can we look at, to provide VoIP service on top of our existing infra?