Singapore-based GNUM has introduced a URL-based calling service and plans to work with telcos to jointly offer the OTT service to mobile users in Asia in next few months.
The service - enabled by GNUM’s patent-pending personalized URL calling technology - allows mobile users to default their mobile number as a personalized URL link so they can receive calls from the web directly without the need for 3G, Wi-Fi or downloads.
“Basically what we are trying to do is to create an online virtual URL for mobile users by which any callers can call you by just a click on the personalized URL,” said Clarence Tan, CEO and founder of GNUM. “This is like Gmail, which will stay with you for life.”
So how does it work? When a call is made on a web browser, it activates a VoIP call through the GNUM SIP proxy server. The terminating number is then verified and directed to a terminating trunk media gateway (TMG) that is connected to the PSTN. The gateway converts the VoIP SIP call to a PSTN compatible call and establishes a call to the terminating user.
Tan said the company is now in talks with some telcos in Asia to bring the service to their mobile customers and expects to have something out “within the next two months.”
He said the most likely users are telcos’ enterprises customers who are doing a lot of business through online portals.
“Telcos that have a lot of SME customers can bundle this virtual online URL service as a VAS for them,” Tan noted. “It’s like a virtual international toll-free concept and will open up another channel for customers to communicate with them.”
The service also appeals to mobile users using social media actively so they can share their personalized URL via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
GNUM is a spinoff of Global Roam, which provides communication services such as VoIP for telcos like SingTel and StarHub.
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