CallWave Inc. is looking to break into the wireless market with Voice over IP technology, but not exactly in the way some would expect.
CallWave is not a VoIP carrier like Vonage Holdings Corp. The company does not transmit or connect calls, nor does it sell VoIP handsets. Instead, CallWave is attempting to bring VoIP-style applications to wired-and most recently-wireless users. As the wireless industry moves toward IP-based services, CallWave’s services could be viewed as a sign of what’s to come.
“Strategically, mobile VoIP is becoming a key part of our business,” said Adrian van Haaften, CallWave’s chief marketing officer. “This is really an exciting area for us.”
CallWave earlier this month introduced its mobile VoIP sales strategy. The strategy is based on two seemingly simple features, features that transform VoIP from a transport technology into an application layer.
CallWave’s Mobile Call Screening allows users to listen to voicemail messages in real time and, if they choose, to break into the message and take the call. The company’s second offering for wireless, Mobile Call Transfer, allows users to transfer live wireless calls to their home or office phone-thus cutting down on their wireless minutes of use. The two services rely on CallWave’s VoIP and soft switching technology.
The service “really becomes like a call manager,” van Haaften said.
To get the service up and running, however, existing wireless users must take on a new mobile-phone number. That new number is connected to CallWave’s switch, which essentially allows the company to add VoIP-style services to the user. Van Haaften said the company is working to develop technology that would allow CallWave’s mobile VoIP services to work with existing wireless numbers, which he said is technically possible. Van Haaften declined to say when such a service would be available.
VoIP has become a major trend in the telecommunications market. It essentially turns voice conversations into bits and bytes that are transferred over the Internet. Vonage has emerged as one of the better known VoIP carriers, offering unlimited North American calls for $25. The company counts around 500,000 subscribers. Since VoIP calls are based on Internet Protocol technology, calls can be manipulated in a variety of ways. For example, voicemails can be sent as e-mail attachments and calls can be directed to various locations depending on the caller’s identity. Industry watchers predict wireless will evolve into an all IP-based environment. Thus, CallWave’s offering can be viewed as a sort of harbinger of the future.
Under CallWave’s mobile VoIP strategy, the company first plans to introduce a prepaid mobile-phone service that will include its new call screening and transfer services. The phones will be available sometime in the second quarter. Van Haaften declined to provide information on pricing and phone models. Van Haaften said the offering would be suitable for new wireless subscribers who wouldn’t have to change their existing wireless phone number. CallWave is offering the prepaid phones under an agreement with Parallel Communications Inc. using service from Cingular Wireless L.L.C. Although CallWave is managing the billing side of the service, Van Haaften said the offering does not make CallWave a mobile virtual network operator. However, he said the company may consider such a move in the future.
CallWave is also looking to sell its mobile VoIP technology to wireless carriers or others in the industry under a co-marketing or private-label basis. Van Haaften said the company does not yet have any customers for its offerings, but that it is in discussions with various players.
CallWave offers various VoIP-based call-bridging services to dial-up and broadband computer users. The services allow users to manage calls across their existing landline, mobile and Internet networks without requiring them to purchase or install additional hardware. The company counts around 800,000 customers. For the six months ended in December, the company’s revenues increased 24 percent to $22.7 million and its net income increased 39 percent to $7.3 million.
