Dublin-based VOIP, which specialises in providing companies with voice-over IP [VoIP] services, is to create 50 jobs in Tipperary, with Enterprise Ireland backing, to support a new carrier pre-select (CPS) rollout, siliconrepublic.com has learned.
VOIP, which was established in 2000 by Aircoach co-founder Brian Powell, currently provides businesses with DSL and VoIP products, which enable firms to make calls to Europe and America for two cents per minutes and China and Australia for three cents per minute.
Through a technology deal with US VoIP equipment manufacturer Verso, it provides a product that connects to a company’s PBX system to create an instant four port internet telephony gateway that could support an entire call centre, or 120 people on average. The company provides DSL connectivity services through Eircom and MCI. Each box involves a one-off cost of €1,000 and calls are charged on a per minute basis.
VOIP is expected to next week introduce its Voice Ireland CPS service, which promises free calls between people on the network. As DSL becomes more prevalent around Ireland, the company plans to begin migrating customers from CPS to VoIP services as part of a DSL/Wi-Fi bundle.
VOIP’s Powell explains: “With the voice over internet service, we are offering business and residential customers 95pc savings on calls internationally and 50pc savings on local Irish calls compared with Eircom.”
Powell said that the creation of the call centre is a necessity, not only for sales and marketing purposes to ramp up numbers, but also to counter the well publicised customer win-back strategies of Eircom. “Customer retention is the big battle facing anyone in the CPS market. We have received funding from Enterprise Ireland to support the establishment of a call centre in Tipperary. We aim to start with 20 jobs and ramp this up to 50 positions within two months,” he told siliconrepublic.com.
By John Kennedy
