Telecom
Industry Insider
Rupert Galliers-Pratt, Chairman/CEO ofVistula Communications,
Identifies Key VoIP Trends to Watch in 2006
New York, NY – FOR RELEASE
Heading into 2006, Vistula Communications Services, Inc.
(OTCBB: VSTL) will continue to enable telecom firms and ISPs
to configure
and deliver Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services to
customers, quickly, easily and with no up-front-costs, driven
by VoIP innovation which is revolutionizing the world’s
telephone infrastructure for both the consumer and enterprise
markets.
“
VoIP is beginning to break out into a more rapid period of
growth, driven not only by the rollout of VoIP services by
trusted telecommunications providers, but also by new players,
such as cable providers,” according to Mr. Galliers-Pratt,
Chairman and Chief Executive Office, Vistula Communications. “However,
it is important to remember that the market for VoIP services
is still in the very early stages of development and acceptance
and carriers and equipment vendors will need to plan for the
long haul.”
The more mainstream acceptance of Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP) technology was perhaps the biggest telecom story of
2005, fuelled, in part, by eBay’s $2.6 billion acquisition
of Skype Technologies, and according to Mr. Galliers-Pratt,
the following trends and predictions are what could make headlines
in 2006:
1. Competitive Practices: We could possibly see the beginnings
of VoIP “walled gardens” by the Internet Access
Providers, who may start to block VoIP calls from major
VoIP providers and only open channels for their own services
in
an attempt to regain and build revenues from voice services.
2. Consolidation/Partnerships: Major Internet players such
as Yahoo! and Google, will continue to develop key strategic
partnerships, pr merge with or acquire Internet Access Providers
to secure access and enhance services with their VoIP offering.
Pure play VoIP providers, may be squeezed from the market
or most likely become acquisition targets.
3. Broadband Penetration: Broadband will continue to grow
aggressively throughout the world and continue to fuel the
availability of VoIP services to residential customers.
4. Wireless: Wireless will continue to grow in leaps and
bounds and the pending 3G roll-out will be the catalyst
for Mobile Operators to embrace VoIP services, as the most
effective
technology to bring mobility and increased connectivity
between businesses mobile and fixed PBX extensions. VoIP
will also
begin to erode the “Roaming” premiums, due
to the growth of WiFi and integrated networks.
5. Session Initiation Protocol (SIP): SIP will likely become
the standard delivery mechanism for VoIP calls, threatening
the position of traditional PBX manufacturers, as SIP enables
Internet Access Providers a standard upon which to offer
even more cost effective, hosted, and feature-rich services.
6. IP Transit Exchanges: The possible emergence of IP Transit
Exchanges will handle and balance traffic across the internet
and enable things like the interconnection of different VoIP
services. It will also mean better management of the Internet
so that quality of service will improve so much so that there
will no longer be a need for companies to require private
dedicated bandwidth making call quality and speed per dollar
a better deal. Ultimately this means that the internet will
be more usable and will bang another nail in the coffin of
traditional telephony. This may not all happen during 2006
though and would be a trend to watch for the next 5 years.
7. Regulatory Threats: VoIP service providers will likely
do an increasingly better job of working with solutions providers
and national and local 911 authorities, as well as becoming
compliant with the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law
Enforcement Act (CALEA). Other traditional voice service
regulatory standards will be increasingly applied to VoIP
providers and may level the playing field a bit.
8. Video/Multimedia: VoIP, which is capable of being more
than simply telephone technology, may become effectively
capable of providing an even greater set of feature-rich
multimedia services that provide audio, full-motion video
and other multimedia communications services such as video
conferencing.
About Vistula
Vistula is a telecommunications company providing hosted,
managed VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services to carriers,
service providers and transit network operators. Vistula
features solutions that enable telecommunications providers
to rapidly deploy VoIP services over converged infrastructure
through an integrated applications suite. Vistula have already
signed Telstra’s Global business unit as their first
customer and other international carriers and ISPs have installed
and are currently testing the V-Cube™ platform. Vistula
trades on the OTCBB under the symbol: VSTL. For more information
visit: www.vistula.com.
" Forward-Looking Statements''
This press release contains certain forward-looking
statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions
of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995,
which reflect management's expectations regarding future
events and speak only as of the date hereof. Vistula’s
actual results, performance or achievements may differ significantly
from the results, performance or achievements discussed in
or implied by the forward-looking statements. Factors that
could cause such a difference include material changes in
our business or prospects, difficulties obtaining financing
to fund our operations, failure to establish brand recognition
for our products, failure to retain existing customers or
attract new customers, failure to compete effectively in
our industry, general market and economic conditions, the
introduction of, and changes in laws and regulations governing
our industry and our products and services, and other factors
that are detailed from time to time in Vistula’s SEC
reports, including those detailed in our Annual Report on
Form 10-KSB for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004.
Vistula disclaims any intent or obligation to update any
forward-looking statements.
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