ICOSNET Launches New Wholesale VoIP Business, Increases Revenues 80% after Switching To PortaOne

VANCOUVER, British Columbia , March 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Everywhere one looks in Algeria, the old meets the new. Eleventh century mosques neighbor busy Internet cafes—and local news, once spread only through Berber caravans, is now transmitted instantaneously by smartphone.

Making the new era of digital services possible for thousands of Algerians is ICOSNET, an Internet Telephony Service Provider (ITSP). ICOSNET, founded in 1999, provides Internet access and phone services to residential, corporate and small business customers in major cities throughout Algeria. Its cutting-edge network begins with points of presence in London and Madrid; undersea cables link the company to its Algerian operations center, from which it provides a mix of wired and wireless services including VoIP and WiMAX. The company, which now employs over 200 people, is connected to all Algerian national carriers via SS7 E1 and a number of international carriers through SIP.

In 2007, ICOSNET began looking for a reliable softswitch/billing solution to support its planned rollout of VoIP services to local customers. After an extensive search, the ITSP chose PortaOne's PortaSwitch for this key infrastructure component.

"PortaSwitch had not only the features we sought, but also the reputation for reliability and good value," said Mr. Ali Morsli, ICOSNET's chief executive officer. "These attributes would assure us the basis for a strong and competitive VoIP offering."

PortaSwitch is a premier telecommunications services and subscriber management platform for Internet Telephony Service Providers. The product, consisting of a real-time billing system, class 4/5 SIP softswitch and media applications, is capable of handling the complete call control, routing, proxying, and converged VoIP billing functions of a diversified digital services company.

Among PortaSwitch's diverse service capabilities is converged VoIP billing and provisioning, SIP call control, unified messaging, IP Centrex and hosted IP PBX, callback management, IVRs, conferencing and much more. It enables VoIP carriers and telecommunication service providers to deliver a wide variety of business models quickly and flexibly. 

Upon installation, ICOSNET found that PortaSwitch delivered as promised, establishing a firm technical and business foundation for its retail customer base. According to Mr. Morsli, however, PortaSwitch also gave ICOSNET an entry point to a new and highly-lucrative market: wholesale VoIP.

"With PortaSwitch we were able to launch wholesale termination through our international carrier partners," Mr. Morsli stated. "PortaSwitch allowed us to significantly increase our company's business. Wholesale VoIP has been a major contributor to the development of ICOSNET."

PortaSwitch's value has grown even beyond telephony services. As the nerve center for all ICOSNET customer billing, the platform is used to bill Internet access for WiMAX users through a pre-paid formula. Thanks to PortaSwitch billing logic, the ITSP can offer convenient payment alternatives including online and money transfers.

In 2013, ICOSNET decided to upgrade its installation to PortaSwitch Procinctus, PortaOne's premium-level solution, and add a PortaSwitch redundant site. PortaSwitch Procinctus is a high capacity, fully redundant and converged VoIP infrastructure that lets ICOSNET unify voice, data, fax content, SMS and Internet traffic within a single converged network. 

As the highest combination of all available PortaOne products and technologies, PortaSwitch Procinctus is helping ICOSNET further extend its dynamic growth—including future projects such as its upcoming Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) debut.

"Since we installed PortaSwitch in 2007, ICOSNET has increased its turnover by 80% and its network traffic by 120%," said Mr. Morsli. "PortaSwitch Procinctus has helped us achieve a maximum level of performance, reliability and service diversity. We look to PortaSwitch Procinctus with a lot of confidence to support and manage our existing and new services."

About PortaOne:
Based in Canada, PortaOne is a leading global provider of software for the telecommunications and utility industries. The company's products enable service providers and carriers to run a broad line of retail and wholesale services within a single software package.  PortaOne's flagship products, PortaSwitch (http://portaone.com/portaswitch/index.php) and MetroBilling (www.MetroBilling.com) are a fundamental part of the business infrastructure for over 380 service providers and telcos in 80+ countries worldwide. Over two-thirds of PortaOne staff are support engineers providing the best-in-industry 24/7 technical support services for clients involved in hosted IP PBX and SIP trunking services, calling cards, wholesale origination and termination, residential triple-play, MVNO/MVNE, callshops and more. To learn more, visit www.PortaOne.com.

SOURCE PortaOne