Asia Netcom, a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Netcom, has signed a contract with Australian ISP, TPG, to deliver a wholly-managed Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) platform as an enhancement to TPG’s recently launched Virtual Phone Card.

Under the scope of the agreement, Asia Netcom will manage the transport and delivery of a significant share of TPG’s international and local voice traffic from its Virtual Phone Card users over its MPLS-powered infrastructure. The Virtual Phone Card is a pre-paid low-cost calling service, which allows users to call any Australian capital city as well as major international destinations from any telephone line.

“Asia Netcom’s global coverage, enhanced voice quality and professional account support were deciding factors in our decision to select them for this strategic enhancement to our Virtual Phone Card platform,” said Vitek Piestrzynski, TPG Internet’s general manager.  “The team’s knowledge of the business and ability to meet our technical mandates are also important elements of this partnership.”

“We are pleased to further develop our relationship with TPG, especially in supporting them in a technology that promises to revolutionise the telecommunications industry,” said Deborah Homewood, Asia Netcom’s vice president, South Pacific Region and Strategic Markets. “Clearly, VoIP technology is now becoming a very important strategy for both ISPs and telecommunications operators. This is an ideal partnership since it combines TPG’s experience and core competency in the retail space, and our comprehensive regional network and vast voice and IP expertise.”

Asia Netcom’s VoIP platform is built on an extensive global MPLS infrastructure powering a Native IP-over-DWDM network. This fully-protected platform features multiple layers of resiliency against outage and is also backed by many years of experience and understanding of the global telecommunications business. Asia Netcom’s voice offering is supported by bilateral agreements and interconnections with all major Tier 1 carriers globally.

Asia Netcom has been a major supplier to TPG of internet connectivity for a number of years.