Global IP-based telephony

AlphaNet Telecom today announced a worldwide telephone-to-telephone voice and fax service which uses Internet Protocol (IP) networks for long-distance transmissions.

The service, called Alphanet Mondial, will work in conjunction with IP network facilities from Global One, a joint venture of Sprint, Deutsche Telekom and France Telecom.

Traffic will run across Global One's backbone networks to and from countries in Asia, Europe and North America, according to Michael Reichmann, a spokesman for Alphanet.

Alphanet would not disclose how much it paid Global One to purchase parts of its national and international networks, but said the telecommunications company would act as a supplier for Alphanet.

A system of resellers will offer retail and wholesale Alphanet Mondial service to customers around the world, Reichmann said.

Though based on an IP-based Internet network, the service will operate over telephones and fax machines and not through PCs.

Users will benefit from the low-cost Internet-based voice and data transmission combined with Alphanet's compression technology, lowering long distance charges substantially, claimed Andre LeBel, president and CEO of AlphaNet, in a company statement.

Currently, test systems are operating in six countries including the US, Canada, Singapore and Korea, but general availability in over 12 countries is targeted for early 1997, Reichmann said. More countries will be added during 1998 at a "very rapid rate", Reichmann said.

If customers make a call to an unsupported region, Alphanet will automatically reroute the call to a standard network in the area, Reichmann said.

Pricing information will be "more clear" in the next two to three months, but it will "definitely be much lower than regular long distance", Reichmann said.

To use the service, customers must dial an 800 number and enter a personal identification number (PIN), much like making a credit card call, Reichmann said.

Corporations will be able to program their entire telephone networks to automatically dial the Alphanet Mondial service when an employee calls long distance, Reichmann said.