TCI to Launch Internet Telephony Service

The local fixed-line operator Telecommunication Company of Iran is planning to launch an Internet telephony service in Tehran

According to the TCI director for Tehran, Gholamreza Arab-Hashemi, the company is set to conduct the pilot phase in the capital in the near future, local technology website CITNA reported.

The service has been named Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Phone, which is a marketing term for voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services offered by many Internet telephony service providers. The service provides routing of telephone calls from a client’s private branch exchange telephone system to the public switched telephone network.

Such services simplify corporate information system infrastructure by sharing Internet access for voice and data, and removing the cost for telephone circuits.

The company is also set to expand its Internet Providing (IP) services. TCI has been offering Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) and Very-High-Bit-Rate Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL) for years but the services are provided through the traditional copper wires.

The company has launched a Fiber-to-the-Home Internet service (dubbed Tanoma) that Arab-Hashemi says has become vastly popular with users. He says, “The company will start offering Tanoma in several cities in the coming months.”

Since April the service is available in major urban areas in Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad, Shiraz, Ahvaz, Karaj, and Kermanshah.