Net2Phone voip and broadband blogged ...
December 30, 2004
CAN NET2PHONE VOIP SERVICE COMPETE WITH VONAGE AND AT&T CALLVANTAGE?
voip-blog.tmcnet.com
In 1999, years before Vonage was a company, Net2phone had an agreement with Komodo Technology to use their Komodo Fone as a broadband telephony/VoIP access device. You could make outbound calls but not receive inbound calls with this combination of hardware and service.
Agreement may be a strong word as TMC Labs had one of these Net2phone enabled Komodophones and I am not aware of anyone else having access to it. Here is the TMC Labs review of the Komodo Fone 300. We were sent a few devices and as I recall the one I received was a prototype.
This package did everything Vonage does except for the ability to have a local phone number. Somehow Net2phone didnt capitalize on what was a half-decade head start. In fact a few years ago my Komodophone which became the Cisco ATA-186 through an acquisition broke and there was no replacement technology available. The Cisco device no longer worked with Net2phone service. This is why I tried Vonage out.
I was just reading Net2Phone Expands Network Reach on TMCnet and it seems that Net2phone is positioned to be a strong Vonage competitor as they have a slew of worldwide telephone numbers now available to them. Net2phone was the first company to market Internet telephony to the masses and had a product called Yap Phone in CompUSA meaning they were one of the first companies with a VoIP product in the retail space. They stopped marketing heavily a few years back. They are now in a position to be a player once again. It will be tough to keep up with the AT&T and Vonage marketing machines and winning a features war will be difficult since AT&T is on fire launching new features like crazy.
The market however is huge if you consider every person in the world could potentially have a VoIP phone so there is plenty of opportunity for everyone. Good luck Net2phone, if you want me to give your service a try, please drop me a line or just set up an appointment at our Internet Telephony show in Miami.
(i sent that url to sarah h. at ntop by the way)
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Net2Phone
evans.blogware.com
by Mark Evans at 10:22AM (AKST)
on December 29, 2004
Does anyone remember Net2Phone, which was offering Internet telephony - the PC to PC variety - long before VOIP became the flavor du jour? Well, the company is apparently alive and well with a new and improved strategy focused on providing VOIP services to cablecos.
Today, Net2Phone said its service has been expanded to more than 80% of the U.S. The Newark, N.J.-based company, which crumbled when the dot-com bubble burst, has also moved into Canada by providing local phone numbers in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver and Hamilton.
I've always found Net2Phone interesting because it was such a hot investment commodity after the Internet moved into the mainstream. At the time, the idea that you could make free phone calls over the Web was revolutionary.
Net2Phone's problem, however, was that it was ahead of its time because the company was relying on consumers using dial-up connections at a time when high-speed access was in its infancy. If the company had been three or four years later out of the game, it could have been Vonage.
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Om Malik on Broadband
Net2Phone+IDT Telecom+Cable Cos=RBOC Headache
The writing is on the wall for the Baby Bells - VoIP is going to force them to change their business models and the proof is going to be with us shortly. This new development is yet another nail in the TDM coffin, so to speak. Net2Phone has teamed-up with IDT Telecom and together they will make cable-based phone systems easier. (I would like to note that both these companies are from the same parent, Howard Jonas, a former weenie-vendor who leverage the art of sucking up to John Malone into a billion dollar empire.) Loop Capital believes that the beauty of this model for the non-Bells is that “VoIP delivery lowers the reliance on UNE-P switching. Should future regulation change in favor of the RBOCs, which we believe will eventually happen, the IXCs will be in a much better position.”
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Net2Phone Activity
Rubicon Blog
Wednesday, December 22, 2004
Om Malik puts forth some thoughts and analysis on Net2Phone, one of my favourite VoIP players. Net2Phone is a fascinating company, having been formed almost a decade ago and having undergone several major transitions in its core product offering. The company has been flexible enough to follow the technology trends and nimble enough to position itself well for the next few years of VoIP services. Granted, the company has some legacy long-haul VoIP clients to service, but those in fact are an incredible asset -- an existing relationship through which to upsell higher value VoIP products.
Net2Phone Global Services delivers VoIP telephone services to businesses and consumers directly and through its global distribution network of over 500 resellers in over 130 countries, capitalizing on the growth, quality, flexibility and cost advantages of VoIP technologies.
In reference to Om's analysis and Andy Abramson's post on the 3.1 % stake AOL Time Warner has in Net2Phone, I think this is fascinating. Almost 90% of Net2Phone's revenues come from outside the US, in markets in which Net2Phone is the leading VoIP brand for both small businesses & consumers. Their US efforts have been slow to materialize and lower profile than Vonage's, so I think this investment & potential partnership makes a ton of sense. AOLTW can gain international exposure in a new market and N2P gets a leading US MSO partner. Furthermore, mostly for reasons of tenure in the space, much of the Net2Phone technology is very advanced, proprietary & comprehensive, whereas many recent VoIP service providers have simply leveraged third party & open source infrastructure.
With over $100M in accessible cash, less than $35M in long-term debt & payables, the company has a lot of dry powder to fund marketing & sales. And, with the institutional backing the company has (Liberty owns about 40% and Howard Jonas owns about 40% of the outstanding shares; Institutions & Funds own a large percentage as well, the rest going to management and individuals) there should be no shortage of capital if need be.
Plus, from what I've gathered, NEA most recently invested in Vonage (a company ostensibly far from profitability & with significantly less in-house technology than Net2Phone) at about a $350M pre-money, equivalent to revenue run rate enterprise value multiple of 3.5x. The same Net2Phone multiple is less than 2.0x. Plus, Net2Phone's revenues are diversified across multiple markets, currencies, & regulatory environments. All things equal (which they're not), this is a compelling opportunity!
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EuroTelcoblog
May 6, 2004
This is an interesting story and highlights one of the concerns we have about how wireless in the local loop might affect the incumbents, particularly if it brings completely new players into the mix. Just a couple of weeks back we got the first details of Net2Phone and parent IDT's plans to begin roll-out of a Wi-Fi based local loop in Newark, New Jersey, designed to "enable users in residential and affordable housing to bypass local phone companies and make domestic and international phone calls via a wireless connection to the Internet." This followed on the heels of some very enthusiastic reviews of the Nextel trial of Flarion's FLASH-OFDM deployment in North Carolina. This is a particularly interesting example, as the service, theoretically for the mobile data environment, sounds fully able to function as a viable alternative to wired residential broadband (average data rate of 1.5Mbps, latency of 35ms, which is more than adequate for VoIP). In other words, we may have the first example of a major cellular player entering a previously untapped segment of the market. Exciting stuff. (Just a moment ago we received a press release from Flarion confirming the reporting on Reuters this morning, that Vodafone will test Flarion equipment in Tokyo from mid-2004.) Now PCCW jumps into the increasingly complicated UK market, diving in at the deep end, in the Thames Valley area of the UK, something of a hi-tech corridor with potentially very discerning customers. The area also includes Telewest's cable footprint. Nevertheless, the pricing looks attractive relative to either of the incumbent providers (Telewest's 1Mbps offering costs GBP35 when taking another Telewest service, GBP37.99 as a standalone). We will continue to track this story, and the entire theme, as it evolves, as we think it is yet another potential source of the market fragmentation we have been monitoring.
Tuesday, December 21, 2004
French cable consolidation
The long-awaited deal has been agreed, and the FT/Canal+ cable assets (4.2m homes passed, 1.7m customers) are to be merged into a newco under the control of Cinven and Altice, with FT and Canal+ maintaining financial stakes. It's difficult to know what sort of arrangements may be operating below the surface, but on the face of it this is interesting, because Altice is a customer of Net2Phone's VoIP product in Belgium, Luxembourg and France. Along with UPC's plans for the recently-acquired Noos, this could be the beginning of a new VoIP offensive in France from the heretofore under-utilized cable plant.
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bwianews.com
Friday, April 23, 2004
IDT Makes "Wi-Fi Cellular" Service A Reality
I very rarely feature a Press Release verbatim. I'm making an exception here because there's simply not much to add to IDT's statements.
Not only is IDT's "WiFi phone service" a demonstration of the technical feasibility of "Wi-Fi Cellular"... but also a demonstration of economic / market feasibility. It's a bit surreal to be reading of this development, and offering it for comment to readers of this Blog, as I finish the last of my morning coffee fix, using free, public Wi-Fi service within a stone's throw of the headquarters of AT&T Wireless in Redmond, WA.
Text of the IDT Press Release follows.
IDT to Deploy America's First Commercial WiFi Phone Service -- Ironbound Section of Newark, New Jersey To Be First Area Covered
Newark, N.J., April 22, 2004 - IDT Corporation today announced plans to deploy the first commercial WiFi phone service in the US. IDT's WiFi phone service will allow users to bypass local phone companies and make domestic and international phone calls via a wireless connection to the internet. IDT plans to initially roll out the WiFi service in select areas of the Ironbound section of Newark, New Jersey. This initial deployment will provide research to help IDT develop the new service as it is rolled out in other areas. The new phone service will utilize Net2Phone's innovative Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) platform. IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT, IDT. C), is a multinational carrier, telephone and technology company. In its April 5th issue, Fortune magazine placed IDT 746th in its ranking of America?s top 1000 companies. Based upon results from last quarter IDT has an annualized revenue rate of more than $2 billion.
"IDT is opening up the next frontier in telecommunications," said Howard Jonas, Chairman of IDT Corp. "By combining WiFi wireless technology with IDT's global telecommunications network and retail distribution, Net2Phone's VoIP platform and the fixed wireless infrastructure of IDT Business Services (Winstar), IDT is providing residential consumers with a more affordable and flexible phone service."
WiFi phone customers will not need their own expensive broadband connection to access the service. IDT will provide wide area WiFi coverage in the targeted neighborhoods. Calls will be routed via Net2Phone's VoIP platform, and terminated by IDT's worldwide telecommunications network and infrastructure. IDT Business Services' (Winstar) fixed wireless network will provide backhaul services for the traffic. IDT is currently deploying its initial network and expects to begin service in Newark within 30-60 days.
"While many are still talking about WiFi phone service, IDT is making it a reality," said Jim Courter, IDT's CEO. "IDT is bringing the first commercial WiFi phone service into the marketplace. Not only have we found a profitable application for WiFi, but we're creating a new industry within telecommunications that can provide basic phone service for a fraction of the cost of traditional phone service."
IDT's network is being designed to be compatible with advances in wireless technology. IDT's WiFi customers will benefit from a seamless transition to WiMax service as that technology matures and becomes more widespread.
"Net2Phone pioneered VoIP," said Stephen Greenberg, CEO of Net2Phone. "Now, together with IDT, we are launching the next generation in telecom. With IDT's reach and infrastructure expertise and Net2Phone's innovative VoIP platform, we are well positioned to ride the burgeoning WiFi network explosion to offer consumers and businesses affordable telephony services."
"Companies like IDT have led the renaissance of Newark," said the Honorable Sharpe James, Mayor of the City of Newark. "Believe it or not, there are still people in America who cannot afford basic home phone service. Now IDT is using its technology to bridge the 'telecommunications divide.' Because of IDT, Newark becomes the first city in America where affordable WiFi phone service will be commercially available."
Steve Stroh
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futuriveis.blogspot.com
Futuríveis
Terça-feira, Dezembro 07, 2004
O Fim da Chamada Telefónica
VONAGE, Skype, Net2Phone, 8X8—these are not exactly household names today. Time Warner and Verizon in America, and BT in Britain, by contrast, are almost universally known, if not always loved. What would happen if all of these firms—a band of specialised upstarts, the giant cable companies and the traditional telecoms titans—were to clash head-on in a global battle to provide a new communications technology that is certain to replace the one most commonly used today?
That is what is about to take place. According to Global Advertising Strategies, a marketing consultancy, “brand wars” will break out in the next six months, as the communications technology in question, called “voice over internet protocol” (VOIP), moves “from the early adopter to an early majority market stage”. The consequences of this migration—which, in effect, makes traditional telephone networks obsolete—are enormous.
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Will the cable and telco giants squash the specialist upstarts? Cyrus Mewawalla at Westhall Capital, an investment-advisory firm in London, suggests that the niche players, such as Vonage, unable to offer bundles of services, “will die out”. Yet the giants have their weaknesses too.
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Moreover, today almost all broadband connections in the world are fixed links provided either by telcos or cable companies. But in the next couple of years a handful of promising new wireless technologies, the best known of which is WiMax, will start to blanket large regions with broadband access over the airwaves.
This will be a huge boon to consumers, who will be able to bypass the broadband duopoly of cable and telecoms companies. It will also help the VOIP specialists by combining the benefits of VOIP with the convenience of wireless mobility (at least within regions with wireless broadband coverage). Vonage and others are already working with equipment vendors to make portable handsets based on short-range Wi-Fi technology, for use within homes and offices. These should be available next year.
WiMax handsets could follow in 2006. If he can keep his lead until WiMax arrives, says Mr Citron, he could leave his cable and telco rivals in the dust.
Who will be the biggest losers? Not the fixed-line telcos, even though their revenues may fall by 25% by 2010 due to VOIP, according to Mr Mewawalla. The mobile operators are likely to be the big losers, with their revenues plunging by 80%. Together, VOIP and wireless broadband could fatally undermine their costly third-generation (3G) networks.
In short, VOIP upends the entire telecoms landscape. As consumers flock to make cheap calls over the internet, a whole industry must find ways to turn VOIP from a threat into an opportunity.
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The Economist
posted by Carlos Taveira, 1:11 AM
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andyabramson.blogs.com
October 31, 2004
Vonage Will Need More $$$
Om Malik has a pretty good handle on Vonage as he's talked with Jeff Citron and comes from the investment banking world, so when Om comes to a conclusion, I tend to look at it and then add on.
In my mind Vonage is using the dot.com model of "get big fast." They are doing this through super aggressive marketing, including an upcoming year long campaign in the range of $50-75 million dollars with their two new agencies, and now saying they are going to hire another 600 people to work in supporting roles.
But it's not all flat roads and cotton for Vonage. The landscape is not theirs alone. While other players were out there just behind them--all who laid back on marketing because they didn't have the money--VoicePulse, Broadvoice or lacked the marketing bent, Packet 8, Lingo, etc. or now the consumer savvty and smart and well funded products from AT&T with CallVantage, Covad and just about all the RBOCs, plus the cable companies using either Level3 or Net2Phone are in the game.
Vonage had the lead, and that led to their growth. They marketed while others played the technology building or assembling game. But, that approach won't work any more.
The others are all realizing they need to market and they are. What Vonage lacked was the deal with the big cable company or companies. The reason they couldn't go there was they lack the QoS that would have kept the cable operator's customers happy. Sure they signed some small deals with some smaller MSO's but since Vonage doesn't break out numbers, we don't know how successful those relationships have been.
So, what I'm seeing is that Vonage is really not doing anything different with the money they raised. Marketing and people to support the customer. Until Vonage gets some infrastructure of their own they are really just a customer acquisition company.
Smart companies looking to partner with a VoIP player, or VC's and investors looking to make money on an investment would be wise to look in the direction of the companies who can deliver an end to end solution that doesn't know how to market. That's really the easy part. Getting the QoS right and doing all the things necessary to keep the calls sounding great, well that's the harder part.
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oh, and --
nadershnoudi.blogspot.com
Jordan Telecom just rules this country and we are just slaves. How can they prevent people from using Net2Phone (for example). Most of people know how to bypass that but still who gave JT the authority to do that.
And the ISPs in this country suck too since they distribute the bandwidth with every living creature on this earth and nearby planets. |
