iBasis Unveils Expanded Portfolio of Voice Products

iBasis has rationalized its product portfolio following its October 2007 acquisition of KPN Global Carrier Services. The result is four international voice products, designed to meet the range of cost and quality needs of iBasis’ wholesale customer base, which includes more than 1,000 fixed carriers, mobile operators, consumer voice-over-broadband carriers and prepaid calling card service providers.

The portfolio, which includes Direct Voice, Value Voice, Certified Voice and Premium Voice, uses the iBasis global VoIP network as well as TDM infrastructure acquired in the KPN transaction, and iBasis’ patented quality monitoring and management technologies.

The expanded voice portfolio is available now. Current iBasis customers already are being migrated to appropriate products, a process that is expected to be completed during fourth quarter.

Direct Voice offers access to the lowest-cost direct routes, but it is limited in capacity and coverage. It’s for those wholesale carriers who want to manage their own routes or that have a lot of traffic to specific destinations, said Chris Lengyel, iBasis’s director of product management. “Customer focusing on one country, such as Mexico, can drive down their average cost by using Direct Voice,” he said. The drawback is that not all calls are guaranteed to go through since the product has a 30 percent call decline rate, he added. Carriers have the option of overflowing to another iBasis product or another carrier.

Value Voice increases the coverage available, but still provides competitive pricing required by wholesale carriers and calling card operators. Lengyel said this product also isn’t guaranteed, but has only a 15 percent call decline rate.

Certified Voice offers full calling coverage and capacity and is targeted to retail operators and consumer voice-over-broadband providers. Lengyel said Certified Voice is idea for LCR replacement and outsourcing as was done in iBasis’ deal with TDC earlier this year.

“For those companies that don’t want to manage and maintain carrier agreements, this is their one-stop shop for voice termination,” he said.

Premium Voice is provides guaranteed coverage and quality and includes selected suppliers ─ mainly direct connection to mobile operators and fixed PTTs, Lengyel said. It also features support for advanced features such as CLI, fax and roaming, so it’s meant for mobile and retail operators.

Lengyel said the four new products are consolidated from eight in the legacy portfolio by taking the best of each based on its attributes, target markets and supplier relationships. Direct Voice is based on the iBasis flagship offer while Premium Voice was KGCS’ flagship offer, Lengyel explained, noting that while iBasis had a premium service offer, it was not as strong as KGCS’ and similarly, KGCS’ direct route product was not as strong as iBasis’.

In addition to the expanded International Voice Product Portfolio, iBasis announced completion of the integration of its Mobile Matrix collection of value-added services for mobile operators, including messaging interworking, global mobile signaling, preferred roaming, roaming integrator services and GRX.