Sending SMS from your computer

It is possible to cut telephone costs by as much as 35% on calls made on cellular phones. This is achieved through the least cost routing (LCR), a service offered by Telepassport, a telecommunication solutions provider. The company has been operating in Namibia since February last year. But since then, a number of other independent players have emerged all offering least cost routing services to the corporate world at affordable rates. "It is our strategy and philosophy that we do our thing. We concentrate on our corporate customers," said the managing director of Telepassport, Phillip Stier.Although there is Telepassport South Africa, Stier maintains that Telepassport Namibia is an entirely Namibian operation and not an extension or a branch of the South African office. This, he said, is demonstrated by the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) route, which they took immediately after setting foot in Namibia.

"In fact we, Telepassport Namibia, have been BEE compliant before Telepassport South Africa," he said. Telepassport South Africa announced their BEE shareholding last Thursday. Just as in South Africa, Telepassport Namibia is a member of Team Namibia, something Stier says, "We are proud of." Telepassport boast a wealth of experience accumulated over a period of 14 years in telecommunication technology, this, says Stiers has enabled it to set the quality standards in the Namibian industry.

Least Cost Routing is Telepassport's forerunner product. But there are also other products such as the recently launched texSMS, complete integrated software that works with Microsoft Outlook on a PC. Users can send SMS, just as they would normally send e-mails. Only with texSMS, the e-mail-cum-SMS will be sent to a technical gateway where it will be routed to a mobile handset.

The software can be used to send remainders; shops can send specials, sales reminders or billing updates. The SMS are sent at lower costs than normal SMS with the costs being borne by the owner of the package. Another IT solution offered as a service is the GPRS modem which link the PC to mobile telecommunication infrastructure in an area. Users in remote areas can use the modem to connect to Internet or send e-mails, as long as there is MTC coverage in that particular area. Stier said TelePassport has established a joint working agreement with a number of leading telecommunication suppliers including Bytes Technologies, Siemens and Telkom-Ericsson.