Internet Café/CallShop Solution

Business Opportunity

Company XYZ operates several Internet Cafés and is currently exploring low cost alternatives for generating incremental revenues. After conducting extensive SWOT analysis, the company finds that it can leverage on its existing Internet infrastructure and start offering VoIP telephony services from its Internet Cafés0. From the company standpoint, that business is attractive as it has low capital requirements.

Offering VoIP telephony services through Internet Cafés/CallShops is a business model particularly appealing to service providers located in countries with limited number of telecommunications providers operating under regulation. Consumers, in those countries, typically do not have access to low cost long distance and international telephony services. Therefore owners of Internet Cafés/CallShops can capitalize on the VoIP technology and offer competitively priced calling services to any part of the world.

Before starting the business, the management of XYZ conducts research of alternative Internet Café/CallShop solutions. The research reveals that a good Internet Café/CallShop solution should be easy to deploy and manage, should be compatible with a broad range of VoIP equipment and should be scalable to accommodate future business expansion. Such solution should also offer advanced billing functionality to accommodate different business models and rating plans.

Business Solution

As Internet Cafés/CallShop solutions are based on VoIP technology their implementation could present significant challenges, especially to businesses without prior VoIP experience. As the technology is relatively new, few users are familiar with its lingo and system configuration is often the most difficult and time consuming part of any VoIP deployment. Often, equipment incompatibility issues present serious problems and could lead to additional deployment delays and lost revenues. Service providers can easily avoid such issues by purchasing a turnkey solution from reputable equipment vendor.

SysMaster, the global leader in integrated VoIP solutions, can offer XYZ an affordable, reliable and highly scalable Internet Café/CallShop solution that meets company specific needs. SysMaster's solution offers advanced billing functionality with multiple billing models and very flexible rating. The solution can typically be deployed in less than a week and is extremely easy to operate even by people with limited VoIP knowledge.

Solution Requirements

A typical SysMaster Internet Café/CallShop solution has the following requirements:

1. VoiceMaster Billing Server
2. Advanced Gateway(s)
3. Optional Modules for the Billing Server and the Gateway(s)
4. Remote Installation and Technical Support
5. High Speed Internet Access
6. Contracts with VoIP Carriers for Call Termination

SysMaster can provide items 1 through 4 while the service provider is responsible for items 5 and 6. Figure 1 below shows the SysMaster Internet Cafés/CallShop solution architecture.

Solution Features

• Four Layer Billing Structure
• Managed Service Support
• Unlimited Routes
• Peak Time On/Off Billing
• Advanced Rate Switching
• FlagFall and Progressive Billing
• Intuitive and user-friendly GUI interface

How Does The Solution Work?

Prepaid Model

1. Customer visits the Internet Café/CallShop
2. Customer pre-pays the operator for the call
3. The operator activates a telephone booth
4. Customer goes to the telephone booth and dials a destination number
5. Based on the destination number, the gateway searches its routing table to determine the appropriate call termination provider
6. The gateway sends call setup request to the call termination provider's gateway
7. During the conversation the gateway converts voice to IP packets and routes them to the call termination provider's gateway and vice versa
8. The billing server monitors the prepaid balance dynamically and disconnects the call if the balance is depleted
9. Upon call completion the billing system records the CDR and makes it available for subsequent reporting, monitoring or analysis

Postpaid Model

1. Customer visits the Internet Café/CallShop
2. Customer chooses a vacant telephone booth and dials a destination number
3. Based on the destination number, the gateway searches its routing table to determine the appropriate call termination provider
4. The gateway sends call setup request to the call termination provider's gateway
5. During conversation the gateway converts voice to IP packets and routes them to the call termination provider's gateway and vice versa
6. Upon call completion the billing system records the CDR and makes it available to the operator for billing, reporting and monitoring purposes

The operator generates invoice for the call and collects payment from the customer.