To use the iSkoot network, a cell phone owner need only download a small piece of software from the company's Beta site, www.iskoot.com.
Guedalia concedes there are some inhibiting factors to the service, but he maintains they are disappearing, as cell phone calling and infrastructure matures. "You need to be able to make a local call (over the gateway)," he said. "And you need good mass market phones."
He said the service currently works best with advanced phones like the Nokia Series 600 and Motorola's RAZR models. Guedalia said the pieces to iSkoot's service are gradually falling into place. He noted that he is meeting with representatives of major telecommunications service providers at the GSM show in Barcelona this week. Guedalia has no direct endorsements from partners, he said, but he indicated that service providers, particularly those with open developer architectures, are looking at the service favorably.
For a cell phone to operate effectively on the iSkoot network, Guedalia said the phone must have three chief characteristics: it must be able to make a cell phone call, must display graphics, and must be capable of sending and receiving data.
"Conventional wisdom says that VoIP and Wi-Fi pose a threat to cannibalize mobile air-time minutes away from the mobile operator," he said. "Rather than stealing anyone's minutes, PC Calling is increasing the total minutes of voice communications. The mobile networks, though, are not yet benefiting from this revolution.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
