The rise of Vonage
Vonage Holdings in its voice over internet protocol (VoIP) service for fixed -line service has added unlimited free calls and conversion of voicemail from speech to text to various countries that includes China and Mexico.
The plan called Vonage World which is to cost US $24.99 per month has started from Thursday will allow subscribers to call more than 60 countries around the world. The countries which have been in this plan are South Korea, Canada, Brazil, India and Australia; in addition to these countries there are different countries of Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia. In few countries like India and China, mobile number calling is also included.
In this plan Vonage World has included voicemail messages conversion into text and sending the text message to the recipient through short message service (SMS) or e-mail.
The premium unlimited plan of the service provider will be replaced by this new plan, the price of both the plans is the same $24.99. Vonage will continue with Basic 500 plan priced at $17.99 allowing 500 minutes free per month and Vonage Pro that includes special features of different types. The possibility of adding two new features is explored by the company in other plans.
Vonage states that the aim of such plan is to help customers who have communities that span across the borders. The service provider will need all the tools required to use the technology to make it distinct and unique from the services provided by the other operators like peer to peer VoIP technology of Skype and cable operators. Vonage had gone to public in 2006 but had to face litigation by Verizon for patent infringement immediately. The company Vonage lost customers and had its revenue dipped in second quarter of this year.
The company claims that Vonage World will cover calls to all the areas of the included countries. With the aid of Vonage Voicemail service users will have facility to listen voicemail messages and if required can be sent to cell phone as SMS message or to a PC as an e-mail.
Dedicated fixed line services over VoIP that is provided by cable operators is on decline due to VoIP services being offered by various traditional carriers and many people opting for mobile phones for voice calls alone. Vonage is fulfilling its promise to provide low-cost calling so as to attract more subscribers with this low priced international calling feature. This special service is available to U.S. residents and is of use for those having people around the world to talk.
In its report on Aug. 5 Vonage stated that in second quarter, it had 89,000 subscribers closing their connections so there were 2.5 million connections in service with the company. The company’s revenue got down from $228 million to $220 million in a year’s time. Marc Lefar, former executive of Cingular Wireless who took over as Vonage’s CEO about a year back has been working aggressively to cut cost of marketing and services.