A free offer could jolt SIP adoption into a phase of unprecedented growth according to TalkTalk Business Managing Director Charles Bligh, who says the days of sluggish uptake will soon be long gone following the operator's acquisition of tIPicall and its subsequent launch of free wholesale SIP to the channel.
From the moment when partners expressed an appetite for SIP trunking, the invitation was there for TalkTalk Business to give them what they want. It has done just that, and more, with a clear commitment to 'get serious about SIP' and address the pressing question. Bligh noted: "Discussions with partners during the last 18 months about the evolution of our data products always led to the big question - 'when are we are introducing wholesale SIP trunking?'. With our products now mature and going well, fulfilling the SIP requirement became a case of sooner rather than later."
TalkTalk Business has been busy building out its wholesale data proposition for five years. First selling broadband, then Ethernet, EFM, EAD and FTTC. During this period the network operator developed strong credentials based on its robust and far reaching network across 3,000 exchanges. Perhaps not surprisingly, voice over data was the next logical step, and being able to break his silence on the matter did not come a day too soon for Bligh. "I've been looking forward to this for months," he added. "Notably, we are already a key SIP provider, carrying over 16 billion SIP minutes per annum and we have won awards for SIP connectivity over data. But our activity was primarily market-led and in the high end Ethernet space, rather than a wholesale variant. That's been missing until now. This is a full scale channel play."
The acquisition brings the full complement of wholesale SIP trunking, including portals and value propositions such as fraud management and DR, all with scalability. Bligh is 'going after' BT and Gamma plus other rival providers, and doing it in a disruptive way, offering free SIP trunking to partners who buy connectivity from TalkTalk Business. Nor is that all. The network operator has also lowered the cost of voice termination, and according to Bligh the end-to-end product could land partners between 20-30 per cent savings. He noted that SIP trunks will also be sold off-net. While not free, off-net SIP comes with a 'very disruptive price', according to Bligh.
While rivals may gulp at the prospect, TalkTalk Business is busy advancing its 'one throat to choke' strategy and aims to attract hundreds of new partners in an all-out push to achieve dominance. The move may prove to be a masterstroke of titanic proportions, believes Bligh, who hopes to onboard hundreds of new partners with a channel campaign that promotes TalkTalk as a one-stop-shop that offers a single point of contact with account managers able to handle both voice and data queries, reducing complexity and simplifying processes.
This is also a straightforward advance on the more complex bundles offered by rivals, claimed Bligh, who said TalkTalk Business' radical approach to wholesale SIP trunking is a 'charter for simplicity and commercial empowerment', first proposed last summer and now increasing the profitability of partners. It was in July last year that TalkTalk Business decided to add wholesale SIP to its portfolio, and sitting on the idea was not an option.
"We acted quickly to assess the players in the market with the potential for wholesale SIP trunking, both small and large companies," explained Bligh. "tIPicall was building a platform that could scale substantially, and a key point of discussion with its Chairman Neil Linter and the management team was that we could take their aspiration and scale it beyond their wildest dreams. It's one thing to have thousands of SIP trunks, but it's another to have hundreds of thousands."
As for Bligh, he says the wind is changing across SIP territory and a joint approach with tIPicall will bring an audible cheer from Land's End to John O' Groats as partners catalyse the uptake of SIP services. This comes at a time when analysts point to 30-50 per cent increases in uptake every year, but down on reality street the UK is lagging. "Doubts about the technology persist despite its proven success," commented Bligh. "However, the launch of wholesale SIP over the TalkTalk Business network will create confidence in the channel and remove those barriers to adoption.
"There has also been a perception that SIP is too expensive, hard to do and involves various suppliers. But our wholesale SIP is on-net and priced to disrupt the market. We are entering this space in a big way and have dropped the price to make SIP more profitable for partners. This is the ultimate statement on our channel commitment. This is all about the channel and expanding the marketplace."
Flexibility is also at the heart of TalkTalk's new offering, with partners able to scale contracts up or down on a monthly basis without committing to a minimum term. This bout of initiatives is touted as a 'game changer', and Bligh says it's up to rivals how they respond. "Some do bundles, but we are taking a far simpler approach," he explained.
"Our SIP trunks are free. This is quality data at great prices, with voice termination also at a great price. When you add it all together we're not just disrupting the market, we are also changing the game. We're changing the nature of the discussion with partners. This is a huge opportunity for them to maximise their revenue potential, especially as the switch-off of traditional voice in 2025 approaches, while ensuring an enhanced experience for their own customers."
What is not so clear for the moment is how TalkTalk Business will use tIPicall's hosted telephony solution called OnePBX, and its sister project MobiPBX, which offers hosted seats as a mobile application. Both were launched to the channel in July 2013. "TalkTalk Business will continue to resell and support these solutions," commented Bligh. "And this year we will determine how we move forward with them."
The running message for now is that SIP requires robust and reliable connectivity, and with TalkTalk Business SIP's free. But free does not mean low value. "We are sharply focused on value adds like fraud protection and DR," added Bligh. "We are maintaining tIPicall's purpose-built provisioning, management and support portals, its 24/7 support across voice and data, and dedicated sales and operational training, testing and on-boarding.
"The tIPicall team have done a wonderful job building the business and the brand. The more we got to know them - their approach, skills, the scalability and quality of their asset - the fit with TalkTalk Business became crystal clear. This is why we say our wholesale SIP is 'powered by tIPicall'. The name has risen to prominence over the last two years."
tIPicall was established seven years ago as a project to build a wholly owned UK SIP platform. In 2010 the company negotiated a relationship with Tata to exclusively provide its SIP capability to switchless resellers. Since then the company grew to become one of the main SIP and hosted providers.
TalkTalk Business completed its acquisition of tIPicall in April for an undisclosed sum. tIPicall's senior management now form the core team driving the new SIP trunking business within TalkTalk and are now based in the operator's Farringdon office. "This is our first acquisition in three years, and we are very much in top gear with our new capability," commented Bligh. "We'll let our partners do the talking over the coming months."