MANAMA: Bahrain’s leadership in telecommunication sector will be bolstered as VIVA plans to open the Global IP Exchange (GIPX) regional hub in April, thanks to the partnership with BT, according to a top official at VIVA.
“VIVA Bahrain will launch the regional hub for the GPIX next month, a step which will strengthen Kingdom’s leading role in the ICT sector,” Ulaiyan Al Wetaid, VIVA Bahrain CEO, on the sidelines of the launch of the CSR initiative for the Ministry of Housing in Muharraq told The24X7News Bahrain (www.twentyfoursevennews.com).
“The GIPX initiative will help to link the East to the West, thanks to the support of the Government for completing this one of the most important projects,” he said, adding that VIVA has just completed five years of a glowing success in Bahrain.
VIVA, he said, will remain committed to provide cutting edge technology to its consumer base through a sustained rolling out of services from VIVA state-of-the-art platform in addition of deploying of latest technology to keep the service standards at highest levels.
“Interoperability is the key to success of future communication services and IP Exchange is a core element to bring it to life for our fast growing region. Investing in this technology together with BT underlines our strong commitment to develop our wholesale infrastructure for the benefit of the regional telecom industry. This hub will provide regional operators with service innovation and choice for their IP interoperability requirements further enhancing their competitiveness to service their local markets,” he said.
In April last year, BT had signed an agreement with VIVA to build a Global IP Exchange (GIPX) interoperability hub in Bahrain. Under the agreement, VIVA Bahrain will deliver hosting and connectivity whilst providing a new route to market for BT’s Global IP Exchange Voice and interoperability services in the region.
BT IP Exchange is an interoperability service that enables fixed, mobile, legacy and next-generation networks to interconnect in a way that minimises the cost and technical burden of protocol conversion. Specially developed to meet the growing need for connectivity between voice-over-IP operators, traditional communications providers, and converged service providers, BT IP Exchange provides essential interworking between the various communications technologies currently used by businesses and consumers around the world.
The partnership with VIVA Bahrain will enable BT to extend its Global IP Exchange footprint to a fourth region, following the launches of BT interoperability hubs in Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas. It unlocks significant pull-through business for mobile roaming, Wi-fi roaming and other future IP Exchange propositions. It will ensure convenient, simplified and seamless access that allows telecom operators to provide their end customers with fully interoperable services and innovative products.
Beatriz Butsana-Sita, managing director, BT Global Telecom Markets, quoted saying that it was the first such hub that BT deploys in the Middle East and demonstrates our continuous commitment in the region. “It is also a new building block in the execution of our strategy aiming at rolling out a fully federated Global IP Exchange infrastructure across the world.”
BT already connects more than 400 IP Exchange customers globally with fast-paced growing traffic demand. BT’s and VIVA Bahrain’s efforts will provide end-users in the Middle-East and beyond with more choice, better service and higher quality communication services. Customers will benefit from innovation in IP voice (such as High Definition Voice quality), one-stop roaming solutions combining 2G/3G, LTE and Wi-fi roaming, as well as modern data services.