Prepaid VoIP provides a highly cost-effective and convenient means of long distance and international calling. Prepaid VoIP is therefore appealing to people who need to make frequent long distance and international calls. Entrepreneurs and companies that provide prepaid VoIP to such people stand to and do benefit from the demand for their services. And even non-technical entrepreneurs–using specialized turnkey software platforms–can deliver these services and turn a profit if they employ an effective business model.
A Look at the Prepaid International Calling Market
In 2012 alone, the industry experienced a five percent increase totaling 490 billion minutes (Telegeography).
In the same year, US smartphone users spent $37 billion on international calling (Rebtel).
The calling card market is worth approximately $2.14 billion (Frost & Sullivan).
There are currently 6.8 mobile subscribers worldwide, which can function as prepaid devices with the use of calling cards and PINless mobile devices.
Why Is Prepaid VoIP Based Calling Cost Effective?
By taking calls that originate in the traditional telephone network (PTSN) and routing the international or long distance portion of the call through the Internet before terminating the call on a telephone in another traditional telephone network at the other end, prepaid VoIP solutions avoid the high costs of routing the call entirely over the traditional network.
What Are Some Forms of Prepaid Calling?
Many people aren’t aware of it, but international prepaid telecom solutions such as prepaid calling cards and PINless service are facilitated by VoIP technology. While each of the following prepaid international and long distance calling solutions can be accessed by regular phones in the traditional (PSTN or POTS) telephone network, they all use VoIP to route calls internationally. This point should be emphasized: the following prepaid VoIP solutions enable end users to access cost effective VoIP calls from phones which otherwise couldn’t access VoIP networks.
Calling Cards and PINless
Calling Cards and PINless enable people to dial into a prepaid calling service via an access number. PINless services don’t require the user to enter in a PIN accompanying the access number each time they want to use the service. Calling Card and PINless service typically can be accessed from any phone, mobile or landline. These phones don’t have to be IP-enabled.
You can learn about the IPsmarx Calling Card and PINless platform here.
Mobile PINless Dialer
Mobile PINless Dialers are apps that enable end users to make prepaid calls on their smartphones. Unlike other mobile VoIP solutions, they don’t require the end user to have a data or WiFi connection. Because this solution doesn’t require WiFi or a data plan, it enables service providers to deliver cost-effective VoIP-based calling services even in regions where VoIP is otherwise technically infeasible, such as in much of the developing world.
You can learn about the IPsmarx PINless Mobile Dialer here.
Callback
The IPsmarx Callback solution enables end users to make cost-effective VoIP calls even from regions where VoIP is difficult to deploy due to technical or regulatory constraints such as in many countries in Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean and Latin America. To do so, the end user dials an access number on their mobile or landline phone. They then receive a busy signal; after which, they receive an incoming call from the system that asks for their PIN. The end user enters the PIN, which is verified by the system. The end user then dials the destination number they wish to call.
You can learn about the IPsmarx Callback solution here.
International Mobile Top Up
International Mobile Top Up enables end users to purchase air time and send it to other end users overseas to use on their mobile phones. For example, using Mobile Top Up end users can send mobile minutes to their friends and family in other countries.
You can learn about the IPsmarx International Mobile Top Up solution here.
How to Sell Prepaid VoIP
The Technology You Need
The most essential software needed to deliver VoIP-based prepaid calling services is called a softswitch. It provides call routing, account management and billing. Although softswitches make use of a lot of sophisticated technology, many provide user-friendly interfaces which enable layman, non-engineer administrators to easily manage client accounts, billing and routing.
The specific type of softswitch needed to deliver these services is called a Class 5 softswitch. The other type of softswitch is called a Class 4 softswitch. A Class 5 softswitch provides services to end users in residential areas. A Class 4 Softswitch routes calls between Class 5 softswitches. Essentially, a Class 5 softswitch is a retail solution while a Class 4 softswitch is a wholesale solution.
The softswitch forms the core of a service provider operation. However, to deliver specific services—Calling Card and PINless, for example—softswitches can be augmented with specific applications. For example, the IPsmarx Calling Card & PINless, Callback and/or Mobile PINless Dialer modules allow the IPsmarx softswitch to deliver these specific services. Crucially, these augmentations enable the softswitch to deliver services to non-IP-enabled devices—regular landline or mobile telephones, in other words. This is a significant advantage of prepaid telephony as it lets prepaid service providers to market to customer bases which may lack access to such technology.
Business Tips
The most practical and successful strategy employed by many IPsmarx clients when they were just starting their prepaid service provider business has been to start small in a niche market that they know well and then branch out into different areas. A niche market refers to a relatively small market in which there is a strong demand for a particular product or service. Furthermore, the competition in such markets is usually not as fierce as it is in larger markets because there are usually fewer competitors; and, of the competitors that do exist, these are in most cases small and micro businesses rather than large companies with plentiful resources and economies of scale. Often, the people who comprise niche markets are similar in some way; for example, students, seniors, people in a particular town or neighborhood of a city or a particular immigrant group. The latter example forms a major component of the prepaid telephony market as immigrants tend to call overseas regularly.
One advantage of targeting a niche market is that you can create services designed to meet the specific needs of the market and advertise your services as such. For example, if your target customers tend to call a single destination frequently you could offer low rates to that area in order to attract and retain their business. In order to make up the difference in revenue, you can charge higher rates for calls to other destinations. Alternatively, if your customers need to make calls at certain times of the day, you could offer lower rates during these periods. Again, to make up the difference in revenue, you can charge higher rates during other periods. With the right tools, there will be numerous tactics such as these that you can use in order to attract business. However, these tactics need to be guided by strategy. And you should formulate such as a strategy in prepaid VoIP as you would in any other business: research your target market.
Want More Information on Business Opportunities in VoIP?
This article is part 4 of our How to Start a VoIP Business Series. In the following weeks, we’ll be publishing additional articles which will discuss the various business models, market segments and corresponding solutions in more detail. Next week’s article will focus on wholesale VoIP services: the opportunities and challenges of the market, the tools you need to get started and best practices for starting a business.
Subscribe to this blog and connect with IPsmarx via social media to stay up to date on the series.
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Source: http://docphy.com/business-industry/business/start-voip-business-opportunities-prepaid-voip.html
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