Guide to Being a SIP Service Provider

So, you are considering becoming a SIP service provider, but you have many questions. You are in the right place. This blog will walk you through what is a service provider means and why it is a good move for your business. You are also here at the right time: according to the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Trunking Services Global Market Report 2022, the global SIP market is expected to reach $14.75 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow to $23.58 billion in 2026. 

Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) allows the user to establish and terminate voice calls, control data transfer, and leverage VoIP services like Zoom, Skype, Facebook Messenger, and Google Voice. Essentially, the connection allows communication with another person over the internet. SIP trunking enables multiple SIP lines for cost-effective, multiple concurrent VoIP calls. More importantly, SIP trunking allows for multimedia data like text, voice, or video. Businesses can leverage SIP trunking through a service provider. 

Related: SIP Trunking 101: The Fundamentals

What Is a SIP Service Provider?

For business customers to leverage the benefits of SIP, they must choose a provider. The service provider allows on-premise or cloud-hosted access to one or more SIP trunks. Each trunk can have multiple lines or channels that can be expanded or contracted, making the service cost-effective and scalable to business needs. 

Initially, SIP service providers required a business customer to have an existing IP PBX system. However, many ‘flavors’ or varieties of service providers now allow clients to use phones by leveraging hosted PBX. Reselling SIP trunking is an ideal option for businesses or individuals interested in becoming a SIP provider.

Reselling SIP trunking lets you leverage a reputable wholesaler’s expertise, technology, and equipment. This is accomplished by white labeling, where your brand is on the products and services. On the back end, the SIP trunking wholesaler provides support and equipment.  

How to Make Money as a SIP Provider

Why Become a SIP Service Provider?

Think in terms of cell phone plans. They vary with the number of lines, the number of talk minutes, and the volume of expected data usage. If you exceed your plan limits, you pay more. An unlimited plan can get expensive for those on a budget. 

Imagine if you had 50, 100, or 1,000 people in your family. Those plans could get quite expensive. That is the issue many businesses face. As a SIP trunking service provider, you can give those businesses an affordable, scalable way to communicate. 

From a financial aspect, becoming a SIP trunking reseller is an investment that provides a quick and impressive ROI. Setup is fast and easy, putting you on the track to increasing your income. Your clients reap the benefits of a smaller initial investment for long-term cost savings. If you choose the right wholesaler, your clients can select their preferred ISP rather than one dictated by the original provider, an essential component of your value proposition for your clients. 

Business Benefits of SIP Trunking

SIP trunking is much more than a way to make VoIP calls. It transmits a wide variety of multimedia digital packets concurrently in real-time. One user may be on a voice call while others are on a multimedia conference. SIP trunking can also transmit user preferences and handle E911 calls.

However, those capabilities are the tip of the iceberg for businesses that leverage the power of SIP trunking. Let’s look at some of the many benefits available to subscribers.

Network Consolidation

Gone are the days of multiple networks for voice, video, and data. Businesses also don’t have to subscribe to numerous service providers. SIP trunking makes them redundant. It consolidates all your communication channels into a single data network, a critical milestone for implementing an end-to-end unified communications system. 

Instant Results

Implementing SIP trunking provides results from the very start with no lag time, no unfamiliar equipment, and no training. The cost savings start immediately. The client incurs no additional charges for international or long-distance calls beginning day one. 

Productivity is also enhanced. Calls can easily be made locally or internationally with consistently high quality, regardless of location.  Internal calls or meetings can be placed quickly, easily, and reliably within the organization, making employees more accessible to each other and saving time trying to find a centrally-located (or available) meeting location. 

Long-Term Cost Savings

Not only will your business clients enjoy toll-free calling, but they will reap the benefit of a lower monthly cost. With the added benefit of choosing their internet service provider (depending on your selected reselling partner), they can also leverage additional savings if the ISP raises their prices.

Scalability

Any ongoing concern should plan for growth and change. That includes their communications technology and equipment. Traditional phone services were an obstacle, as they were expensive and not always easy to expand. SIP eliminates the need to purchase PSTN gateways or PRI lines.

SIP lets businesses connect their offices and teams quickly and efficiently, regardless of location anywhere in the world. Mergers, acquisitions, or even divestitures are managed seamlessly. SIP is highly flexible, with unlimited channels per trunk and no physical installation. It allows for rapid scaling up or down within hours as the business climate changes. 

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

Disaster recovery is of primary importance, particularly now with increasingly more frequent and destructive storms, flooding, and wildfires that threaten business continuity daily. SIP trunking is more reliable than legacy phone systems or VoIP alone. It offers multiple failover methods, such as geographic redundancy, call routing during power outages, or system failures that take down the internet.

Security and Fraud Prevention

SIP trunks are an ideal solution in an overall security and fraud prevention plan. SIP trunks have a dedicated connection to only one company and are monitored for unusual activity, stopping potential cybercriminals in their tracks. A SIP trunk provides superior protection against malicious activity such as Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks through SIP trunk signaling and traffic policing. However, specific protections depend upon the SIP service provider.

Mobility and Portability

With an increasingly mobile workforce, your communication system must allow your employees to route calls. Whether on campus, at a client site, home office, or traveling, calls can be readily routed to their mobile devices.

Easily Managed 

No extra resources are required to manage SIP trunks – the central platform is intuitive and user-friendly, meaning no administrator, ramp-up time, or extensive training is necessary. Your clients can easily add and remove lines, features, and extensions in minutes.  

What To Look For in a SIP Services Reselling Partner

Before you decide on a reselling partner for SIP services, consider what makes the most sense. Do you want to be locked into a contract? Who handles the billing and taxes? What about system compatibility?   These and other criteria can determine you and, more importantly, your client’s experience. The partner’s features, responsiveness, and reliability all reflect on you when you white label their services. Here are a few considerations for you to explore with each potential provider.

1. Does the partner seamlessly accommodate all major IP PBX, IP gateways, and open-source PBX projects? 
2. Do they require a hefty initial investment or a long-term contract? 
3. Is the service flexible for you and your clients, so you only pay for what you need at any time?
4. Does the partner provide industry-leading support for guidance or technical issues?
5. Are you or the partner responsible for invoicing or taxes?
6. How easy are account creation and service provisioning with the potential partner?
7. Are commissions transparent? 
8. Can you and your clients choose your ISP?

The Bottom Line  

The demand for SIP services is growing steadily. It is projected to increase by 60% by 2026. There is no better time than now to become a SIP service provider. By partnering with a reputable reselling partner, you can be instantly on your way to serving clients and increasing your revenue.

Moving to SIP services makes financial sense for businesses. They increase their protection for disaster recovery and fraud. Their monthly expenses are reduced and their mobility and scalability become more manageable. They no longer have to have multiple networks and subscriptions for voice and data services. 

Becoming a SIP reseller has never been easier. You get access to an established service with little upfront investment, allowing you to start providing white label SIP services to your clients immediately. By choosing the right partner, you benefit from no long-term contracts, best-in-class service, transparent commission, automated provisioning, and freedom from invoicing and taxing the end client. 

SIPTRUNK’s services platform makes building a SIP trunking practice simple. You can quickly start receiving a recurring revenue stream selling SIP services without waiting months or providing a considerable upfront investment. Let’s get started!