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Softswitch: The Heart of the Mobile VoIP Business

TMCnews Featured Article


May 16, 2014

Softswitch: The Heart of the Mobile VoIP Business

By TMCnet Staff


Mobile VoIP is hot. Now that just about everybody is sporting a smartphone of some kind, people are starting to realize that they can save money by using VoIP for their calling instead of going through their cellular provider.

This presents a good opportunity for enterprising entrepreneurs, as the market for mobile VoIP is still fragmented and there’s plenty of opportunity for new mobile VoIP entrants.

Recently VoIP solutions provider REVE Systems published a short paper on what it takes to start a mobile VoIP business. The paper outlines the technology that entrepreneurs will need to put into place to capitalize on mobile VoIP opportunity.


There are two parts to the infrastructure needed for a mobile VoIP business: The backend requirements, and the client technology.

On the backend, new mobile VoIP businesses need to think about three components: softswitch with billing, bandwidth optimization software, and hosting servers.

Most crucial is the softswitch with integrated billing. This is the heart of the VoIP business, and it controls all VoIP connections, transactions and customer records. Softswitches come in various ratings, the most important of which is how many concurrent calls it can handle. It also is important to pick a softswitch that delivers scalability, security, reliability and efficiency, as well as ease of administration.

Bandwidth (News - Alert) optimization software is needed to control quality. Since mobile VoIP is subject to the network on which the customer is using the service, quality can vary a great deal and is not at the control of the mobile VoIP operator. What the business can do to ensure a good customer experience, however, is leverage bandwidth optimization software to enable clear calls even when the network is constrained.

It also is important from a backend perspective to use enterprise class servers, which are hosted in Internet Data Centers and which can offer an always on service with quality bandwidth and power. A startup can lease servers and bandwidth from IDCs around the world.

On the client side, it is important to have the right mobile VoIP client for customers. Ideally this client will be white label so the business can add its own branding, and it will include optimization software for better calling in bandwidth-constrained situations.

It also is important to have calling card support and PC software, so customers can use mobile VoIP in any situation. With PC software, they can use their laptop or desktop as a client and not just their smartphone. And calling card functionality enables customers to use mobile VoIP if their mobile phones do not have data services.

The market opportunity for mobile VoIP is great. But first the right technology needs to be in place.




Edited by Stefania Viscusi







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