VoIP providers prepare NBN attack

VoIP and telephony providers Engin and MyNetFone are set to become retail service providers over the National Broadband Network in the first move by non-traditional ISPs to broadband services.

Engin this week revealed NBN plans starting at $49.95 a month for a 12/1 Mbps service with 25 GB download quota with a $99.95 top-end plan providing 100/40 Mbps speeds and a 400 GB quota.

Though counting downloads toward quota only, cheaper plans will be shaped to 64 Kbps once a user exceeds their quota while the top-end plan will slow to 128 Kbps once exceeded.

The service forms part of a sub-wholesale agreement with Nextgen networks, which provides access to the NBN points of interconnect and system portals.

Though competing for customers on the network with other service providers, Engin will also offer its VoIP platform to other providers under the Nextgen sub-wholesale agreement.

Engin’s plans come just a week before rival MyNetFone is set to unveil its own entrance onto the fibre network.

The addition of both players increase what is already a crowding broadband market widely expected to introduce non-traditional players and household names including supermarkets and banks into the mix over coming years.

MyNetFone told existing customers this month that it would reveal NBN services and pricing next week at the NBN trial site of Kiama, as part of a direct agreement with NBN Co.

MyNetFone technical director and co-founder Rene Sugo told iTnews that the firm would continue to focus on VoIP and number portability under its NBN plans, which it saw as an access technology for existing services.

“We started off as a VoIP player and VoIP is very good to us... but we’re sort of moving ourselves into a full service provider of sorts,” he said.

“In some respects it will just be another access technology for us to reach our customers and deliver our value-add, which is the voice and hosted telephony.”

The company is already providing VoIP services to some NBN trial customers, which had spurred it to offer full broadband services over the fibre network.

It will also offer its flagship virtual PBX product to businesses over the NBN, beginning with a residential service to some businesses.

NBN Co will commercially release business-grade wholesale products later this year but Sugo said the inherent reliability of the NBN’s fibre network and guaranteed speeds over residential plans already offer a high-quality service for its voice products.

“From my point of view, the NBN current offerings are much better than ADSL or even the Ethernet offering that are available to businesses over the copper network anyway in terms of delivering capabilities, service levels and consistency of service,” Sugo said.

“It’s a breath of fresh air if we can guarantee 12 Mbps to their premises.”