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Telco to add VoIP to stable
2007-08-13
Gotalk hopes to unsettle Skype's dominance here and in New Zealand by integrating a new voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) service with its highly successful phone card business.
Skype, owned by eBay, has popularised VoIP worldwide, with 196 million registered users.
But Gotalk chief executive Steve Picton believes Skype is vulnerable to a cheaper, more flexible and localised alternative.
VoIP is still in its infancy in Australia, where there are about 500,000 users. Users download a "softphone" – software that enables them to make calls via their computer with a broadband connection and a microphone/headset.
"We sell something like 400,000 to 500,000 new phone cards a month and every single one of those could now be accessed using VoIP," Mr Picton said.
He said a key point of difference for Gotalk VoIP customers was the ability to use prepaid credit across softphone, landline and mobile phones.
"You don't really want to have a $ 20 phone card and have to put $ 30 in your Skype account," he said.
Other points of difference were a greater choice of geographic numbers, more flexible payment options and 24-hour customer support from Gotalk's local call centre.
Telecommunications industry analyst Paul Budde said Gotalk was likely to succeed in marketing VoIP to the price-sensitive phone card market, consisting mainly of ex-patriates and overseas visitors.
"Gotalk is very, very successful in that niche market, so obviously it makes a hell of a lot of sense to then offer a VoIP product to that market," Mr Budde said.
But VoIP would not emerge as a mass market in Australia until larger telcos bundled it with broadband packages, as in Europe, Mr Budde said. This was because the larger carriers had a vested interest in protecting their existing telephony.
Gotalk VoIP has already won the endorsement of telco researcher PhoneChoice, which found it was 6.6 per cent cheaper than Skype over 12 months of typical use.
Mr Picton – last month named Queensland's Technology and Telecommunications Entrepreneur of the Year – said he hoped upwards of 30 per cent of Gotalk's phone card customers would use VoIP.
By Josh Robertson
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