New Concept Technologies (NCT) announced recently that it will be offering an updated version of its hosted calling card softswitch solution. This will allow providers to offer their customers different payment methods and handle many of the financial transactions that VoIP service providers must deal with.
Wilmington, Del.-based NCT offers various solutions for VoIP service providers. It has a VoIP tunnel service that allows providers to avoid having their service blocked by competing Internet telephony service providers; typically a problem in other countries. Other products and solutions include IP/PBX (News - Alert), conferencing and call center software. The company also offers a turnkey solution for prepaid calling cards.
The hosted calling card softswitch offers a lot of great features for VoIP service providers and that also makes transactions smoother for customers. It handles billing and authorizations and supports credit card payment processing. Tariffs and promotional campaigns can be applied to bills in real time. Customers can pay for service through fund transfers or PIN payments. By using a PIN generation system, they can obtain a PIN and top off their accounts without having to buy a card each month.
The solution also makes it easier for providers to work with partners. It has a feature that calculates commissions for resellers and is set up so that VoIP services can be rebranded and offered through partner programs.
The growth of VoIP service has opened up opportunities for those who wish to become service providers. According to Frost & Sullivan (News - Alert), the calling card market alone is worth over two billion dollars. Customers are either ditching their landlines for wireless, VoIP or a combination of the two. They can save money using these services, instead of traditional phone service, to make long distance and international calls.
This is great news if you want to be a VoIP provider, but setting up the infrastructure to offer the service yourself can be expensive and challenging to maintain. Thanks to softswitch companies like NCT, this barrier to potential vendors entering the market has been removed. They can take care of the infrastructure and simplify billing and paying reseller commissions while freeing up providers to focus on offering quality service.
Edited by Alisen Downey