Johannesburg - Will your fridge be able to communicate with your cellphone in two years' time? Maybe. But MTN Business is thinking much bigger than that.
In a phased approach, MTN Business - a division of MTN group - is rolling out what it calls Managed IP PBX to corporate South Africa. It has seen a high level of interest.
Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange (IP PBX) is a business telephone system designed to deliver voice or video over a data network and, most importantly, cooperate with a fixed line network.
"You will have a single number. Depending on where you are, the network identifies whether to route the call to your office phone or your mobile phone," MTN Business senior manager for marketing and products Mike Fairon told Fin24.com.
He said your PBX would check your Outlook calendar and see whether you were available. If you were in a meeting, an automated voice mail message would advise the caller to leave a message.
"It's simply anywhere, anytime communication abilities. You could be in Scandinavia and you would have access to the PBX network," Fairon said.
Just take a seat - and save
Instead of shelling out funds to buy its own PBX, a business simply "buys seats" with hardware that resides with MTN Business.
In addition, Managed IP PBX has built-in, cost-effective routing. Each outgoing call is evaluated and the most cost effective rate is chosen - whether it be fixed line or mobile.
"The response from organisations has been overwhelming. We're talking hundreds of thousands of seats," Fairon said.
Fairon said the solution attracts both small and large businesses. "The cost savings are quite substantial," Fairon said.
A business with a 100 extension PBX saves 37% compared to installing its own network. And a business running a 1 000 extension PBX can rake in 55% savings on a three-year basis.
"By taking up Managed IP PBX, a business can focus on what needs to be done. It no longer needs a big telecoms and IT network," Fairon said.
The second phase of the Managed IP PBX solution involves rolling out a mobile platform in collaboration with MTN's mobile arm, which will be done towards the first half of 2010.
MTN Business will continue this phased approach for 36 to 48 months until both sides (fixed and mobile) are fully collaborating with help of its Managed IP PBX solution.
Unique position
All of this is bad news for MTN's competitors in this space (Vodacom and Telkom), but for different reasons.
Vodacom does not have the same fixed-line network as MTN. The latter has points-of-presence (POPs) all over South Africa - a POP is an artificial point which allows for a connection to be severed.
Since Vodacom has POPs only in major centres around South Africa, "its PBX solution would be less cost effective" since it would charge long-distance on local calls.
Telkom, on the other hand, doesn't have its foot in the mobile network market. And since recent stringent environmental standards prohibit quick base station set-ups, it's a near impossibility for it to reach a level where it can compete with MTN Business' Managed IP PBX solution.
"MTN's shift into the fixed-line sphere is not a monumental one; clients understand it's a natural extension of our business and there hasn't been a resistance to the new product on this basis," Fairon said.
MTN Business is currently the only company to offer this solution as a cheap alternative to internal PBX networks. "It will be interesting to see what the competition comes up with," Fairon said.
- Fin24.com