4 - 10 October 2001

Maltese company begins testing voice over IP

by Ivan Brincat

A Maltese company is testing voice over IP in three different locations and is expected to offer the
service to companies with a network of offices for intra communications in the first quarter of 2002.
IT&T chief executive officer Ruben Galea told The Malta Business Weekly that tests on the pilot project have so far been very positive and this will allow a company with various offices in different locations to make voice calls between the offices at no cost
whatsoever.
The return on investment made by these companies will be recouped within a short time-frame and the service is ideal for local calls made between offices because it does not make use of the international gateway.
Mr Galea said IT&T, a telecommunications company, was set up to provide services to international markets by operating data communication nodes to deliver broadband services.
“The running costs of the system will be zero because companies would only require a leased line. Obviously, for international calls it is a different issue because the price of an international leased line is very high.”
Apart from exchanging data, Mr Galea said, a leased line could be reengineered in such a way as to allow voice, fax and other forms of
communication.
“We will soon be launching unified communications whereby from one mailbox, a user may be able to receive voice mail, fax and email on the same mailbox, accessing it from anywhere in the world. This system, which is also being tested, has been very well received and is expected to be launched in the coming weeks.”
He said IT&T was currently working on the design of a core centre for voice over IP and
slowly adding users with access
to the system. According to
the Telecommunications Act, IP
telephony will be available as from 2003 but for intra office communications this can be launched before.
At present there are other internet companies, like net2phone, offering similar products internationally.
The company will be selling Mitel products for voice over IP through their subsidiary Ecommerce Ltd.
Mr Galea said the company was looking at the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector with particular interest. “Our company is looking forward to 2003 when the sector will be liberalised. We are ready for competition and this should in turn favour customers,” he said.
The company is Maltese-owned but there are major plans ahead. “We will be expanding very rapidly to the benefit of the Maltese community,” Mr Galea said.