TellMe has opted for an advertising-supported business model, but also intends to charge e-commerce sites for building and maintaining their voice services and it wants to take a cut on every purchase that is made through its system.

ECONOMIST: Internet

EBay has said it hopes to explore new areas of Internet commerce, and voice has become a natural add-on service.

FORBES: Skype Proves Anyone Can Sell Phone Service

Charges for voice traffic may have fallen, but the sort of bandwidth necessary for e-commerce is still fearsomely expensive.

ECONOMIST: Telkom, the state telecoms monopoly, still has much to do