On May 4, the video conferencing application Zoom announced that it has received the Unified License with Access for All/PAN India, National Long Distance (NLD), and International Long Distance from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). With these licenses, the company will now be able to offer Zoom phone service through its private branch exchange (PBX) to multinational companies and businesses operating in India. Currently, Zoom partners with international telecommunication providers and offers phone numbers and calling plans in 47 countries and territories bundled with its cloud PBX service. What is a private branch exchange? PBXs are business telephone systems that allow the creation of telephone networks within a company so that all its employees can communicate over internal phone lines, according to an article by UC Today. Cloud PBX services, like the one offered by Zoom, use an internet connection to route calls onto the company’s internal phone lines. Why it matters: Remote working environments have made it so that physical PBX systems are no longer an option for companies. According to Zoom’s claims, a cloud PBX can help companies avoid large infrastructure costs of maintaining phone equipment and can allow companies to use a single communication platform for their global workforce. The company also claims that the Zoom phone uses 256-bit AES-GCM encryption and comes with multiple security features. Despite its security claims, it is notable that in the past, India’s cybersecurity team Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has found vulnerabilities in Zoom. These vulnerabilities allowed hackers to join…
