[September 06, 2005] Vonage Activates One Millionth Line Tweet BY JOHANNE TORRES TMCnet VoIP Minute Watch Columnist   "In a very short time, Vonage has woken up a dormant telecommunications industry and sparked a tidal wave of change," said Jeffrey A. Citron, chairman and CEO of Vonage Holdings Corp., as the company announced on Tuesday that it had activated over one million lines.   Today's news follows recent rumors about the possibility of the company filing for an IPO. According to TheDeal.com, the VoIP service provider is planning to file for an initial public offering (IPO). According to the report, the move would help the company raise as much as $600 million.   The company had already managed to raise a whopping $408 million in venture capital rounds led by Bain Capital, with strong participation from existing investors including New Enterprise Associates (NEA), 3i, Meritech Capital Partners, Institutional Venture Partners, in addition to other investors.   Last May, the company announced it had completed a successful $200-million private financing round, and then told a Red Herring magazine reporter that it had no immediate plans to file for an IPO.    "A rumored Vonage IPO would be a huge deal in the VoIP market," wrote TMCnet's own Rich Tehrani, president and editor in chief August 25. "It is huge because Vonage will be a barometer for the entire VoIP industry and more importantly its success or failure will be amplified a thousands times due to its influence on the companies in this space and the capital markets reaction (or over-reaction) to whatever develops."   Vonage has been busy announcing key partnerships in the VoIP industry. It recently teamed up with cordless phone giant VTech, along with Texas Instruments (TI) to bring the Vonage-ready IP-8100-2 cordless handset to over 8000 retail locations around the U.S. The devices, designed by VTech and bundled with a VoIP chipset by TI, are configured with Vonage's VoIP phone-based service and retail for $149.99 with a $50 mail-in rebate after 60 days of service. The ip8100-2 is currently being sold at retail locations nationwide, including SAM's Club, Radio Shack, Best Buy, Circuit City, Staples, Fry's Electronics, Office Depot and CompUSA.   The VoIP service provider has also been working with E911 technology provider Intrado to comply with the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) recent VoIP E911 ruling. The agency ordered that all providers have VoIP E911 access up and running before the end of November. Vonage, which reportedly set $10 million aside to be used solely for its E911 efforts, has been working with Intrado since November last year.   Please keep checking the VoIP Minute Watch, our blogs and forums at TMCnet.com for more updates on Vonage's future plans.   Vonage Holdings Corporation http://www.vonage.com -----   Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more articles by Johanne Torres, please visit:   http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/columnists/columnist.aspx?id=100006&nm=Johanne%20Torres     [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]