What is A-Z termination?
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What is A-Z termination?
A-Z termination in wholesale VoIP means providing voice call termination to a very wide range of countries and destinations worldwide through one carrier/provider.
The term “A-Z” basically means “from almost any origin to almost any destination.”
Simple example
Suppose a VoIP provider has customers making calls to:
- 🇺🇸 USA
- 🇬🇧 UK
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- 🇿🇦 South Africa
- 🇳🇬 Nigeria
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇦🇪 UAE
- 🇸🇬 Singapore
- 🇵🇭 Philippines
Instead of that customer establishing a separate carrier relationship for every country, an A-Z termination provider can provide routes for many/all of these destinations through a single wholesale relationship.
Customer → Your SIP connection → Your A-Z network/carriers → Destination operator → End user
Why is it called “A-Z”?
Think of the telecom rate sheet as an A-to-Z destination list.
For example:
| Destination | Wholesale rate |
|---|---|
| USA | $0.00x/min |
| UK | $0.00x/min |
| India Mobile | $0.0x/min |
| Australia Mobile | $0.0x/min |
| Nigeria Mobile | $0.0x/min |
| UAE Mobile | $0.0x/min |
| Brazil | $0.0x/min |
The exact rates depend on the route, destination, CLI requirements, traffic type, volume, and carrier.
A-Z vs. single-country termination
Single-country termination:
“We specialize in India termination.”
You provide routes primarily to India.
A-Z termination:
“We provide termination to 200+ countries.”
You provide a broader portfolio of destinations through multiple carrier/interconnect relationships.
A-Z does NOT necessarily mean one physical network
This is important in wholesale VoIP.
An A-Z provider may use multiple upstream carriers, direct interconnections, regional carriers, and transit partners to cover different destinations.
For example:
PW Carrier → Carrier A → India
PW Carrier → Carrier B → UAE
PW Carrier → Carrier C → Brazil
PW Carrier → Direct Interconnect → USA
The customer sees one wholesale provider/SIP connection, while the provider manages the underlying routing.
What customers usually expect from A-Z termination
When a customer asks for A-Z termination, they normally want more than just a country list:
- Competitive $/minute rates
- Stable routes
- Good ASR
- Good ACD
- Low PDD
- CLI support where required
- High CPS/concurrent-call capacity
- 24/7 NOC/technical support
- Multiple routing options
- Fraud monitoring
- Ability to handle high-volume traffic
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