Comments on: Another $250 million for Vonage

By: Scott Sajak

Scott Sajak — Sat, 24 Dec 2005 12:32:37 +0000

Ok, here’s my theory. If Vonage gets over 2 million subscribers by May or June of 2006 they can consider themselves a brand.

More important than anything is the cost of customer acquisition increases churn also increases, at some point they reach an inflection point with margin erosion and guess what? NO CUSTOMER LOYALTY Churn goes up, it’s cycle that the Long Distance Companies faced and RBOCS faced.

Sprint got it right by private labeling thier service for the cable companies.

Here’s my take, when Sprint spins off their local division a known fact and requirement for the Nextel merger, say in May or June of 2006, they (sprint local) will buy other local carriers including Vonage. They will probably have a market cap over $10 billion they could buy Qwest buy wireless service from Sprint Nextel and offer VoiP by buying Vonage.

I am guessing that we should see a Vonage play sometime in the 3rd quarter. The way they spend cash they won’t have an alternative.

By: Zoli Erdos

Zoli Erdos — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 18:29:01 +0000

Thanks to Vonage for being the innovators, virtually creating this market - their time is gone, they are just one in the crowd now. The new investment was good money thrown after the bad one...And those $2000 customers can now switch so easily, especially that Vonage started nickel-and-diming them:-(

By: Jonty

Jonty — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 16:48:21 +0000

I am not surprised with the fresh infusion of VC money in Vonage. My intuition says that the Vonage IPO is not going to come any soon.

Vonage is busy improving the books to find a buyer or if it does an IPO as promised in last few rounds. The fact is, if Vonage goes to the market with its shares, the ‘bomb’ might kill it completely.

I have also further analyzed what could be the real plot at my blog. http://www.voipcentral.org/entry/fresh-funds-for-vonage-where-is-the-company-headed/

By: VOIP Blog

VOIP Blog — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 16:42:34 +0000

Fresh funds for Vonage: Where is the company headed?

Hey, whats going on folks? Another 250 million for Vonage in private equity, so what about its IPO promises? Ok, we shall discuss that just in a while; lets look at the Vonage chest now. So, how much does it has? $658 million already raised, still …

By: Yaromir

Yaromir — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 22:12:57 +0000

I suspect they need this kind of money to create an MVNO. As a first step, this month they started selling Wi-Fi enabled phone with an ability to use not only at home, but at numerous WiFi hotspots. But, obviously, in order to sustain in business they need to offer a wider area connectivity (they need wireless). WiFi’s coverage is patchy and WiMax is still a couple years from now, so the only option left is to go MVNO’s path. Don’t you think they can actually go the VoIP/Mobile Convergence route?

By: khabri

khabri — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 06:01:31 +0000

The valuations depend on not only the number of subscribers they have but also at what rate they are adding new customers. So guess VCs have lot more data than we do and hence they decided to open their wallets.

By: Paul Jardine

Paul Jardine — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 03:26:16 +0000

If Vonage is worth $2 billion, then Skype was cheap!
Seriously, though, Vonage is plateauing at best, they are not going to get significant growth and at $650/customer acquisition costs, I’d rather be in 3G…
Sad.

By: Things That ... Make You Go Hmm

Things That ... Make You Go Hmm — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 23:38:39 +0000

Vonage dials up $250 million more of VC funding

Despite being a satisfied customer for nearly two years now (March 15, 2006), I must admit having greater hopes for Vonage (affiliate). We still use them for most of our residential and business phone needs but it concerns me when I read that they ar…

By: Charlie Bravo

Charlie Bravo — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 18:58:17 +0000

Who said the “bubble” was deceased

By: Changing Pairs

Changing Pairs — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 14:11:43 +0000

Vonage Valuation Ridiculous

Om Malik has an interesting post on the recent round of debt financing at Vonage. Om points out that the valuation being placed on Vonage by some is not realistic.

Those sorts of valuations are difficult to come by in the wired world (though lately …

By: tom

tom — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 10:04:53 +0000

I’m sure most of Vonage’s valuation is based on growth, and thus comparing a +/-$2000 per sub valuation for Vonage subs to Cable/DSL or other slow growth subscriber businesses is not very useful or relevant.

That said, the points about Vonage having missed the easy sale, facing increasing competition, voice trending to zero and everyone just providing their own solution are dead on.

By: The VoIP Weblog

The VoIP Weblog — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 04:34:26 +0000

Vonage Needed More Money

Om has an article on Vonage bringing in more money, while they were purportedly gearing up for an IPO. With this round of financing the company has raised a whopping $658 million from private investors. Is this proof that the…

By: Mull

Mull — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 02:52:49 +0000

Personally, I think the ship sailed on Vonage. they should have been the first mover in finding a buyer.

Their whole advantage in the marketplace was price, add in e911 (if they bother to actually provide it) and additional taxes if the FCC gets their way (which they usually do) and Vonage will be toast.

Voice is trending to zero, and the only advantage for VoIP will be as an additional service, not as a standalone product. Cable co’s and the big boys will provide voice for free as long as they can include bigger ticket items such as data and video.

Personally, I believe their entire business strategy has been to do a customer land grab and sell out to the highest bidder. Now, an IPO wouldn’t be taken serious, and the players who would consider buying them can offer VoIP themselves, so why throw Vonage a bone?

As a first mover, I think they could have made some money, but now…..good luck.

By: Mel

Mel — Sun, 18 Dec 2005 02:09:28 +0000

Wow. Between that (the total so far) and the EBay/Skype deal … I’m left just shaking my head.