|
Freshtel Counters Engin; Seeks Funds |
|
|
|
Written by Adam Gosling
|
|
Wednesday, 10 August 2005 |
CORRECTED: About a week ago VoIP service provider Engin lowered its calling rates and introduced a $9.95 plan, now Freshtel has countered Engin’s offer with a $5.95 plan, though call rates are not as low.
The company also announced recently that it was seeking some fresh capital to help pay for its entry into the US market, build infrastructure and build more ATA’s.
It plans to sell an additional 50 million ordinary shares with a market rate worth more than $10 million in total. Part of the funds will be used to build the infrastructure required to deliver a whitelabel VoIP service for an un-named major UK retail chain.
Freshtel CEO Michael Carew told VoIPnews Australia that Freshtel is generating a great deal of interest overseas and is expecting a number of interesting developments over the next year and a half.
Freshtel also recently signed with Scandinavian telecoms service provider, Maskina, which recently became a subsidiary of the Tower PLC a communications group based in London. Freshtel will provide Maskina with a SIP-based software phone, said Carew.
Any left over funds will be used to help the company with its break into the US VoIP market, providing for the establishment of a network there, manufacture of its ATA and PABX equipment and just generally running the company through the next twelve months of start-up.
The new rate plan includes $6 worth of call credits for your $5.95 per month. Local calls and calls to major cities are untimed and priced at 10 cents. However, calling rates to International destinations look slightly higher than Engin’s which are 3.5 cents per minutes to countries like the United States (Freshtel = 3.9 cents) and Hong Kong (Freshtel = 4.9 cents).
Freshtel also has a minimum 30 second call duration after which calls are billed in one second increments. Engin charges a one minute minimum on timed calls.
Mobile call rates are set at 29 cents per minute with both providers.
Related news items Newer news items
Older news items
|
|
|
|
