(NTOP) Brazil's TVA Launches Residential VoIP
Tuesday June 21, 5:52 pm ET
biz.yahoo.com
Brazil's TVA Launches Residential Internet Phone Service, Promises to Slash Prices
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- Cable television operator TVA Brasil launched residential Internet phone service Tuesday, promising to slash prices for consumers in South America's largest country.
TVA, owned by the Abril Group, one of Latin America's largest media holding companies, said it is using voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP, technology in partnership with U.S. technology firm Net2Phone Inc. and Brazilian long-distance operator Primeira Escolha.
The partners began providing corporate VoIP services in October 2004, and are now opening up the service to anybody with broadband Internet access at home.
TVA says the service will cut phone bills by up to 50 percent, with calls to other TVA customers offered for free. Customers will be able to use their phone number on any other computer in the world with broadband Internet access, TVA said.
That means that subscribers could log on to the service in the United States and pay only the local charges when calling Brazil.
But the entry of TVA won't mean huge immediate changes in the country of 182 million, because most Brazilians don't have cable service or computers.
TVA hopes to sign up 3,000 customers by year-end, primarily targeting its existing 295,000 cable television customers and 35,000 broadband Internet access users.
VoIP technology cuts the cost of long-distance calls by routing them over the Internet, rather than over the traditional long-distance networks owned by traditional phone companies.
TVA joins a host of startups in Brazil offering VoIP services and putting pressure on the long-distance carriers, including market leader Embratel Participacoes SA.
According to Brazil's fixed-line operators' association, Abrafix, 38 percent of all outgoing international calls from Brazil are now carried on some form of VoIP network.
That amounts to about US$360 million (euro298 million) in lost revenue annually for the firms, according to UBS Investment Research.
Traditional operators say certain VoIP services are illegal in Brazil, and want the country's telecommunications regulator to take action. VoIP newcomers deny the charge, saying it is an alternative that will spur competition. |
