After all the speculation and rumors about buy-outs, further private offerings, or an impending IPO, it’s finally settled that Vonage is going the IPO route:
In a coming-of-age for the fledgling Internet-based phone industry, No. 1 provider Vonage plans an initial public offering to raise up to $250 million, the company said Wednesday in a regulatory filing.The Vonage offering would mark the first IPO by an Internet-based phone company that markets almost exclusively to consumers, says Stanford Group analyst Clayton Moran. Net2Phone and several other publicly traded companies largely provide wholesale services.
"It definitely signals that it’s having a significant impact on the (telecom) market," Moran says, noting Vonage also faces tough challenges.
The terms of the offering have not been set.
Vonage has far outpaced its rivals, drawing 1.4 million subscribers since its start in October 2002. The total number of Voice over Internet Protocol users is projected to grow from 3.3 million to 18 million by 2009, research firm In-Stat says.
2-12-2006 08:22:45
Vonage definitely has a chance to become the largest “Phone” company in the world if they pull this off. But it isn’t going to be easy. Competition is stiff. Everyone from regular telephone companies, cable companies and even satellite companies smell money with VOIP. While the market is huge, it is still young – so its anyones ballgame at this point. If Vonage can develop a significant marketshare and build on it then their stock will be quite valuable. We’ll have to see how aggressive they are. In 20 years I predict there is only one kind of communications line … We’ll have to wait and see….