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VoIP Week in Review from TMCNet: Joost Internet TV Debuts
[January 19, 2007]

VoIP Week in Review from TMCNet: Joost Internet TV Debuts


TMCnet Contributing Editor
 
This week, the VoIP Minute Watch covers Joost Internet TV's debut and news from Times Telecom, XO, Jinan and SunRocket (News - Alert).


 
VoIP service provider Skype (News - Alert) co-founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis introduced Joost on Tuesday, a new Internet-based television service. The new company, which was formerly known under the code name "The Venice Project," is now currently available in private beta testing.
 
Joost can be accessed with a broadband Internet connection and offers broadcast-quality content to viewers for free. According to the company’s news release, Joost is powered by a secure, "piracy-proof" Internet platform, which guarantees copyright protection for content owners and creators.
 
Joost is currently available to members who apply for a special invitation online. A general release is planned for later this year.
 
Times Telecom is the newest company to launch a VoIP-based telephone service in Canada. The company announced on Monday that it introduced a pretty low-priced plan at just $9.95 a month with all of the bells and whistles included plus e-voicemail.
 
Times Telecom's basic $9.95 package includes one phone line, unlimited local calling and advanced features such as call waiting, caller ID, voicemail and eVoicemail. Long distance fees start at 1.5 cents a minute with the basic phone line package.
 
The telecom will initially launch the service in selected Canadian cities including Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. Subscribers will be able to choose their own phone number within the 604, 403 and 780 area codes and make free calls to other Times Home Phone users anywhere in the world.
 
XO Communications (News - Alert) announced on Tuesday that it has joined FiberNet Telecom Group's Phonomenum VoIP Peering Platform and will offer its VOIP Termination and VoIP Origination services. FiberNet offers a suite of VoIP Peering services for VoIP carriers, service providers and LECs, which enables them to buy and sell international and domestic termination in an open marketplace.
 
XO's VoIP Origination allows service providers to receive local telephone calls from remote XO markets, in which the provider is physically located. According to the agreement, numbers which are provisioned through XO’s VoIP Origination service will be populated into the Phonomenum Peering Exchange ENUM Registry, allowing members to terminate VoIP traffic directly with other members of the Peering Exchange.
 
VoIP service provider Jinan announced Tuesday that it inked an exclusive distribution agreement with Lanyu, a Chinese distributor of IBM (News - Alert) products, to integrate IBM's Medium and Small Size Enterprise Management Service Package (IBM MSEMSP) in the Asian country. Jinan is a subsidiary of China VoIP & Digital Telecom.
 
Jinan will begin distributing IBM's MSEMSP in the Shandong Province. The company's service area is currently comprised of 19 cities with Shandong Province as its primary base of operations. Jinan reportedly has plans to expand its service area throughout China in the near future.
 
The company followed this announcement on Wednesday with an introduction of a new service that will allow cellular subscribers to make calls using VoIP via any available WiFi (News - Alert) network. The service will feature Jinan's proprietary NP Soft Switch IP telephone system. Jinan will first make the service available to select enterprises and government organizations this April in the Shandong Province. The company plans to roll out the service to other areas in China as WiFi networks expand throughout the country.
 
VoIP service provider SunRocket launched on Wednesday a new plan that offers calls to Asia Pacific locations including China, Japan, Hong Kong and Vietnam priced at one cent per minute.
 
If a customer chooses to sign up for the new Asia Pacific Edition plan, the subscriber will also receive SunRocket's standard all-inclusive unlimited calling benefits which include, among other things, calls within the U.S., to Canada and to Puerto Rico, for a $199 annual fee.
 
The Asia Pacific Edition reduces international rates to $.01 per minute on all calls (landline and cellular) to China, Singapore and Hong Kong; and on landline calls to Taiwan, Malaysia and South Korea. Landline fees are reduced to $.02 per minute for Japan; while SunRocket’s fee on all calls to Vietnam is reduced to $.10 per minute.
 
There you have it folks, another exciting week in the VoIP industry! Stay tuned and read the VoIP Minute Watch for the latest news…
 
Want to learn more about VoIP Communications? Then, you can't miss the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO East taking place next week, January 23-26, 2007 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Be sure to also check out Rich Tehrani’s view of VoIP and other technologies in the communications industry for 2007.
 
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Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet and Internet Telephony magazine. To see more articles by Johanne Torres, please visit her columnist page.
 
 
 


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