Japanese firm Soracom has announced a service that connects voice from IoT devices to a user’s existing contact centre, VoIP provider or AI agent.

The Air RTC Gateway receives a device’s standard cellular voice in the cloud and routes each call by SIM and device identity, such as SIM group and tags, to the right destination. Because it works with any IMS or VoLTE-capable module, voice is used as a standard device function with no special software or voice application on the device, and calls are secured by SIM authentication rather than separately managed credentials.

Parking payment terminals, building entry gates, elevator emergency buttons, medical and care-facility call systems, and connected vehicles all reach moments where a person at the device needs to speak with an operator or a support centre. The growth of generative AI has added a second demand, for AI to handle first-response intake and initial triage by voice. Traditional voice services make these deployments costly because they require per-device phone number management and call-routing control, and connecting a call to a specific destination or to an AI system has typically required additional system development.

Voice travels from the device to Soracom over VoLTE through the secure Soracom Air path, where the gateway converts it to VoIP. From there it reaches an external VoIP provider over the internet, or, through a Soracom virtual private gateway, a private connection to enterprise extensions, contact centres or an AI agent on an IP PBX in the user’s cloud. Connected to a voice AI, it can handle around-the-clock first-response intake and then hand the call to a human agent.

Combined with eSIM Profile Order, which remotely installs a Soracom connectivity profile onto eSIM-capable devices and smartphones, and a virtual private gateway, the service can also turn a corporate device into an internal office extension with secure access to company systems from outside the office.

“Soracom began by making connectivity accessible to IoT innovators, and we have since extended that foundation to public cloud, satellite and AI,” said Kenta Yasukawa, CTO of Soracom (soracom.io). “Voice is the next layer. With Soracom Air RTC Gateway, a device’s built-in cellular voice becomes a managed connection that the platform routes by SIM identity to a contact centre, a VoIP provider or an AI agent, with no voice application on the device. This is how we connect people, things and AI through one platform, and how Soracom keeps making things happen for the teams building real-world AI.”

The gateway applies across industrial equipment, social infrastructure, mobility and office work. Use cases include remote support for construction, agricultural and industrial machinery; fault reporting and emergency calls from elevators and security systems; nurse-call and telemedicine voice assistance from medical and care devices; support-centre connections from connected vehicles; automated voice response through AI agents; and extension calling from corporate devices with secure access to internal systems.