Vonage raises another $250M

I guess we can put the expectations of that IPO on hold temporarily since Vonage just raised $250M in convertible debt funding. This brings the grand total raised to $658M. The press release didn't say much apart from the fact that they needed the money for continued operations and E911 deployment.

Andy and OM are not impressed and don't buy the 2B valuation. Well, I didn't believe that anyone would pay 3.5-4B for Skype either but apparently I was wrong about that and for what its worth, I think Vonage brings more to the table and should be valued at least as much as Skype.

Vonage uses SIP which will make it easier to roll out new services and peering with other networks is a snap. Vonage is going after primary line replacement and shows no sign of slowing the pace. Marketing is still huge and they are delivering partnered service everywhere.

If Skype made 20M last year and sold for 4B then Vonage should sell for more than that, hmm.. maybe not.

The one thing I can say is that more people in North America will probably use Vonage in the long run. The reason I say this is becasue market research shows that most people do not want to make calls from a computer when at home. For example, when Telus, the local phone company, went on strike I went down to the local Future Shop and bought a Vonage package and was up and running in literally minutes. My wife was not too happy about using the computer to make/receive phone calls. I even tried using a USB dongle attached to my normal phone, not unlike the Actiontec device, still no dice. Since our computer has multiple login the dongle idea didn;t work.

She just wanted to pick up the phone and call. Lisa is not unlike most other consumers in Canada. Softphones have become easier to use but they still can't replace the telephone in my home, unless of course the softphone is IN my telephone and I just don't know itsmile

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