Taxophony

The IP telephony market is gaining new opportunities

By-laws to the Law “On Communications”, recently approved by government regulations, have led to major changes in the IP telephony market (IP telephony is a technology for transmitting voice over Internet digital communication channels). The conditions for obtaining a license for companies providing IP telephony services and for traditional telephone operators are now the same: it is necessary to have representative offices in all regions of the country and, in addition, to provide the ability to determine the number of the calling subscriber. The initial dissatisfaction of IP telephony market participants caused by this is now giving way to attempts to save their business.

Companies specializing in IP telephony (sometimes called “alternative operators”) are entering into alliances with traditional players in the telecommunications market. Thanks to this, in particular, it became possible to make long-distance calls from Moscow payphones.

The main advantage of IP telephony is its low cost, thanks to which most citizens now prefer to talk to other cities and countries using a card. Slightly lower quality transmission of the interlocutor's voice has not become a fundamental obstacle to the spread of IP telephony, as is now obvious - the consumer prefers to save money. Recently, it has become possible to save money using payphones of the Moscow City Telephone Network (MGTS).

Public IP telephony

At the beginning of this year, MGTS already tried to introduce its subscribers to “alternative” long-distance communications. Nothing good came out of this attempt to introduce IP telephony. The then general director of MGTS changed his job, the project was quietly abandoned, and all mention of it disappeared from the company’s website. But now that Rostelecom has at least nominally lost its monopoly on long-distance communications, competition in this market is intensifying. Telephone cards of alternative operators are the main factor in intensifying competition, but mobile operators are already beginning to offer very humane prices for long-distance calls. Against this background, the current tariffs of Rostelecom do not in any way contribute to the popularity of long-distance calls from payphones, and this hardly pleases MGTS. The Moscow network of payphones is already unprofitable; queues of people wanting to make calls in busy areas of the city do not compensate for the costs of servicing devices in residential areas.

The innovation looks like an attempt by MGTS to revive this small but important section of the telephone market. Payphone consumers have received a simple and elegant alternative: the dialing procedure remains virtually unchanged; for a relatively cheap IP connection through the channels of the telecommunications company Zebra Telecom, it is enough to press the “star” before the usual number eight, and then dial the country and city code in the usual way. No special cards, dialing through a separate city number or long PIN codes. In addition, the call fee is charged to a regular MGTS telephone card, i.e. the whole procedure is as simple and friendly as possible. Such a “long-distance connection” is somewhat more expensive than conventional (card) IP telephony, but the benefits are still noticeable. According to Zebra Telecom, you can save from 35 to 80% of the cost of a “traditional” call. Cheap intercity communication is currently available on 4 thousand MGTS payphones; by the end of the year it is planned to increase their number to 6 thousand. The service is aimed primarily at visitors.

In Europe, payphones work exactly like this - the subscriber can choose his own long-distance operator. Abroad, such devices are usually omnivorous and readily accept credit cards. Universal payphones that accept credit cards have also appeared in Moscow. But such devices are clearly not enough.

Intricate tariffs

All this is good, but, unfortunately, it is very difficult for the consumer to compare prices for a regular long-distance payphone, an IP payphone and long-distance tariffs of other operators. The cost of a telephone conversation from a payphone is determined in “standard payphone units”; the price per unit depends on the denomination of the card being purchased. Also, the number of units charged during a conversation depends on the type of card (with per-minute or per-second billing). The unit price fluctuates in the range of 1.5--5 rubles; for example, the price is 2.2 rubles. included in a telephone card worth 110 rubles. Despite the orange sticker with preferential Zebra Telecom tariffs, you will need a calculator to accurately calculate the cost of a minute of conversation. All you have to do is take the company’s word for it or make two calls to the same city using different methods and compare the number of rubles debited from the calling card.

It will still serve

With the entry into force of by-laws to the Law “On Communications”, other new services will appear in the arsenal of telecom operators. Not so long ago it was impossible to contact even a resident of the Moscow region from a payphone, but today you can call any country in the world, choosing an operator. The development of landline communication capabilities makes obvious sense, since, despite the rapid development of cellular networks, a simple payphone has by no means lost its importance. You can recall, for example, how in emergency situations (like explosions in the subway) Muscovites were rescued not by a mobile phone, but by a payphone.

Operation of the payphone network in Moscow is unprofitable. However, under the terms of the license, we are required to provide Muscovites with 24-hour access to emergency services, and we do this. This is one of the reasons why we install and maintain payphones, including in those areas where the population practically does not use them. MGTS does not receive any additional profit from the joint project with Zebra Telecom, only the usual fee for local calls. In this case, thanks to such additional services, we hope to increase the popularity of payphone communications among Muscovites.

Anatoly VERESHCHAGIN, Head of Public Relations Department, MGTS

For us, this project is important from the point of view of reaching a certain target audience - visitors, for whom a payphone is the first, and sometimes the only means of communication with home. For this category of users, both the cost of the call and the ease of dialing are important. The “*8” service is just the beginning of a joint project with MGTS for the city’s payphone network. The company plans to provide additional voice services. It is quite possible that our St. Petersburg colleagues will find such a service attractive and we will implement a similar project in St. Petersburg.

Victor KALEDIN, General Director of Zebra Telecom

Sergey POTRESOV