VoIP Soft Phones
Monday, July 10, 2006
In India, VoIP is regulated. You cannot terminate a VoIP call to a PSTN or issue a VoIP number. Neither can you offer VoIP based International Long Distance calls commercially. In effect, the consumers are deprived of a cheap telephony options. Thankfully PC to PC and PC to landline calls outside of India are still allowed. That is why you dont get fined for using Skype.But usage of Vonage boxes are still allowed. You can have a US number, use broadband to connect it to the Vonage box in India and happily call any landline number in US through it. It give us a virtual presence in US itlsef. A boon for people with relatives in US.
The userbase of Vonage is growing in India for this particular reason. Its an classic example of disruptive marketing model. They have not invested in any marketing campaign targeting Indian users but the number of Vonage users located in India will still be significant. They have created a market for themselves.
Which leads us to another business opportunity. How difficult is it to create USB SoftPhone which can be used with Skype or Vonage? Given the popularity of these services, a cordless phone which uses Vonage or Skype as it backend, over a WiFi network would be a big hit. Something to think about!
Tags: VoIP India Internet Telephony Vonage Packet8 Skype
