Students make first call on Telecom's NGN

They may only be small, but today they helped Telecom take a big step.

Students from Auckland’s Marshall Laing primary school took part in a key
milestone in the build of Telecom’s new all-IP next generation network
(NGN) today, by completing the first voice over internet protocol (VoIP)
phone call.

Telecom CEO Paul Reynolds was on the call and said it was exciting to see
the first call completed and especially fitting that it was made by future
users of the technology.

“This first call represents a significant step in the roll out of our NGN,
which will change the way New Zealanders make phone calls and allow our
customers to enjoy the very latest digital services in their homes.

“In the future, the children who made this call will be able to use a
range of online applications and services that we can’t even imagine
today - and our NGN will help enable and deliver these services,” he said.

All-IP networks are the next generation of telecommunications networks and
telcos all over the world are upgrading their fixed line networks to IP.

In the future all calls over Telecom’s network will be made using VoIP,
making New Zealand one of the first countries in the world to adopt this
new technology for a nationwide network.

Mr Reynolds said the first customers will be offered pilot services on the
NGN later this year, and Telecom was now focused on developing NGN
products for customers.

The completion of the first call also meets one of Telecom’s Undertakings
requirements, ahead of schedule.