Cheap VoIP in South Africa
There is steady rhetoric of Africa being the Dark Continent with poor business growth and worse ICT service delivery. But some South African telecommunications players are taking to the international stage to disprove these negative stereotypes with high quality low cost telephony products.
The recent rise of cheap VoIP in South Africa is proof of this. Growing alongside an increase in fiber capabilities, (super-fast and reliable internet) has resulted in many more opportunities being available in the rainbow nation than there have ever been before.
Hang up the phone on high call costs
Before we go into the reasons behind that, let’s talk about the definition of VoIP and SIP:
What is VoIP? (VoIP stands for “Voice over IP”) Simple definition: making voice calls using your internet connection as opposed to using landline connection. (We’ll write a full piece on this for you soon with colorful detail and examples but for now let’s keep it short and breezy.)
What is SIP? In order to make calls using VoIP (which is way cheaper than the alternative) you need “Session Initiation Protocol” Simple definition: We’ll go into what that exactly means in a later post, but for now, the best way to think of it is by likening it to petrol in a car. Without it, you’re going nowhere.
The reasons behind the growth of cheap VoIP in South Africa:
Other than the aforementioned growth of more reliable internet , the biggest driving force behind the expansion of cheap growth in South Africa is the need for small business’ (especially ) to find a way to keep their overheads down while pushing for business growth. By doing that the best small business’ have not only learnt how to ride out the tough times but invest money into the areas of the enterprise that have the best return on investment like marketing/human capital.
What it boils down to is that business is a lot like life in the wake of one of the worst economic crisis in the history world, you have to cut down on the things you HAVE to have to have any hope of getting things you want. Tight budgets breed necessity.
In other words communication costs are definitely something ALL business’ have to shell out for, but if you can get what you want for cheaper at the same level of quality you can definitely spend more on business growth. Saving R10000 on your call bill by using VoIP you spend R10000 on marketing.
If you’ve only ever been a non-voip user, I get that it can be daunting, so why not try it out first with a free sign-up trial run.
