Fixed-VoIP booming in South Africa

Fixed Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is growing in South Africa, and according to Telviva CCO Rob Lith, it is now the most prominent method of voice call transmission in the country.

He added that artificial intelligence (AI) emerged as a significant driver of VoIP solutions in 2024, and he expects the trend to accelerate in 2025.

Through AI, businesses can offer generative AI chat and voice assistants that can enhance an organisation’s ability to manage communication channels, scale their business, and optimise various processes.

“Fixed VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is now the most prominent and dominant method used for voice calls, from all telecommunication operators offering interconnections between each other using SIP connections to exchange voice, to the majority of businesses and consumers using VoIP solutions,” said Lith.

“The traditional analogue and digital offerings are all but gone, and all have an end-of-life date.”

“In fact, the market is moving past the shift from old analogue and digital to VoIP to the next shift of VoIP plus all other choices of communication: from web chat, WhatsApp, and for businesses WhatsApp Business channels, to video calling and other social media options,” he added.

He explained that this shift in the business market is driven by unified communications as a service (UCaaS) and omnichannel contact centre services (CCaaS), where communication channels are consolidated into a single view.

This enables companies to better manage customer experience.

Vox head of voice, visual communications, and Microsoft, Andrew King, agrees.

“We are experiencing an increase in fixed VoIP uptake, driven in large part by the increased adoption and expansion of Unified Communication and Collaboration solutions and cloud-hosted call centre platforms,” he said.

King also noted the promise of increased productivity that AI could bring to the space.

“Underpinning this adoption is the rapid evolution of AI and the promise of the productivity gains it brings to those companies that embrace the technology — not just with respect to Voice centric departments, but across the organisation,” he said.

According to Lith, the voice market in South Africa, comprising fixed and mobile technologies, declined by 6.1% in 2022. This came after declines of 5.1% in 2021 and 5.8% in 2020.

“This is driven by the shift from voice to other channels of choice users have,” he added.

Euphoria Telecoms chief technology officer Nic Laschinger agrees. He told MyBroadband that most businesses and carriers in the country have VoIP somewhere in their systems.

“The majority of traffic between carriers is done via VoIP, with very little interaction with legacy PSTN or SS7 technology anymore,” said Laschinger.

“Fixed telecoms remains a useful tool for business, but the final day of legacy telco connections draws nearer, certainly in the major metropolitan areas.”

“More and more businesses have been forced to move from traditional ISDN BRI and PRI lines to VoIP solutions,” he added.

Laschinger said there is increased demand for mobile and flexible VoIP solutions among South African businesses.

“Customer relationship management applications (CRM) are embracing all the channels of communication as this is where the context of all engagements with customers, suppliers and other stakeholders resides,” added Lith.

Regarding VoIP calls, Lith explained that the collaboration of chat and messaging from within CRM platforms is now critical to providing better-quality conversations, as it provides context and knowledge of contacts’ dealings with businesses.

It is also critical for a seamless experience across multiple platforms, something that is essential for many businesses.

“Companies must integrate channels like email, SMS, social media, and voice to ensure consistent, on-brand interactions, allowing conversations to transition smoothly from one platform to another,” said Lith.

“From a business perspective, those companies that have not begun their transition from traditional fixed line voice to multi-channel or omnichannel solutions will lag behind competitors who have.”