For legions of mobile phone users around the world, MO-Call isn’t just a service—it’s a lifeline. MO-Call, from UK-based Morodo Ltd., is a virtual mobile network that lets people make international calls from their mobile phone at a fraction of the cost charged by their mobile telephony provider. The secret: a software add-in, downloaded from the MO-Call Web site to the user’s mobile handset. The add-in shifts outgoing calls directly to Morodo’s VoIP network for completion; savings can be as much as 90% below existing mobile network international tariffs.
As early as its pre-launch testing phase several years back, Morodo knew its service would be hugely popular. Morodo quickly realized its proprietary billing system and vendor call management software would not scale quickly enough to meet the heavy demand.
We began seeking a robust, feature-rich billing and call control platform. After evaluating products from several vendors, we found that only PortaSwitch had the combination of reliability, scalability, features, call management capability, and product support we needed.
James Barnes, Chief Technical Officer for Morodo Ltd.
PortaSwitch is a software-based communication services and subscriber management solution that lets IP telephony service providers deliver a wide variety of business models quickly and flexibly. The comprehensive, Class 5 product consists of a softswitch and application servers, delivering billing and provisioning, SIP call control, unified messaging, IP Centrex and IP PBX, voice VPN, callback management, conferencing and more.
PortaSwitch is flexible enough to support MO-Call’s multiple means of call set-up, call routing, billing—including multi-currency support—and multiple vendor management, plus other features such as Helpdesk ACD (Automatic Call Distribution) and IVR (Interactive Voice Response).
James Barnes, Chief Technical Officer for Morodo Ltd.
Morodo uses every product included in PortaSwitch: PortaBilling100, PortaSIP, and PortaUM (unified messaging platform), and PortaBridge, a conference server. Morodo’s pre-assessment of MO-Call’s popularity—and system stress—was evident as soon as PortaSwitch was installed in 2007. Thankfully, according to Barnes, PortaOne’s technical team has performed when needed.
Our R&D has demanded much of PortaOne, frequently requesting support for new and innovative features in support of the MO-Call One Account communication service. Because we originate the majority of calls from cell phones using the MO-Call application suite, we have stretched the capabilities of PortaSwitch and the PortaSwitch development team. But they have always delivered for us.
James Barnes, Chief Technical Officer for Morodo Ltd.
Since its rollout, PortaSwitch has improved Morodo’s business by making it faster and easier to manage call traffic, as well as to develop call features and calling products. The company has since introduced additional services including Web callbacks for PCs, mobiles and iPhones; instant messaging; free PC-to-PC calls, and low-cost international PC-to-phone calling. Barnes said PortaSwitch has not only alleviated the risk that is inherent in growing a broadly-focused, global telecom business, but also helped it compete head-to-head against Skype and the large mobile telephony providers.
PortaSwitch’s billing just works. It’s the simplest thing—but the hardest to get right. I have worked in the telecom industry for fifteen years for carriers on three continents, and have never used a billing platform with so few bugs or errors. It’s quite an achievement.
James Barnes, Chief Technical Officer for Morodo Ltd.
