VoIP winners declared at ITSPA 2008 Awards

The UK’s best VoIP and Unified Communication service providers were announced last week at the 2008 ITSPA (Internet Telephony Services Providers’ Association) awards.

Held last Thursday in the Members Dining Room at the House of Commons, the awards were co-hosted by Ian Taylor MP and Derek Wyatt MP.

A group of independent judges selected the winner of each category from a shortlist.

BT won the Best Consumer VoIP award for its BT Broadband Talk service. Gradwell Dotcom won Best Business ITSP, and Timico won Best Unified Solution.

Cisco’s Voice System won the award for Best VoIP Hardware, whilst AQL won best VoIP Innovation for its SMS Relay technology.

Following the success of the awards, ITSPA announced plans to introduce a quality mark next year - a move which has won them Ofcom support.

ITSPA Chairman, Eli Katz, said: “The aim of the ITSPA Quality Mark is to help consumers recognise those companies who go that extra mile in ensuring best practice.”

Ofcom’s Competition Partner, Stuart McIntosh, said the introduction of a quality mark for VoIP services is “a very positive step”.

McIntosh added that Ofcom will continue to monitor VoIP telephony to ensure that it “delivers real benefits to customers”.