Telefonica's JAJAH launches cheap international VoIP

VoIP continues to gain traction with carriers and push into the mobile mainstream, with Jajah announcing Thursday it was launching its IP-based long distance call service with Telefónica Europe across Europe under O2’s banner.
Telefonica, Spain’s largest teleco, bought Silicon Valley startup Jajah back in January of this year for €145m ($186.9 million), and has made quick work of integrating the VoIP service into its mobile offerings, especially in Germany.

German mobile subscribers on the O2 network can apparently now use Jajah’s Global Friends service to assign up to five of their international contacts with a local number to cut down on the costs of calling them internationally – especially considering how expensive that tends to be on a handset.  Other European O2 subscribers – some 54 million people – are expected to be able to follow suit very shortly.
“It’s a global communication era. People have friends and family around the world,” wrote Jajah’s marketing manager Hadara Alook in a company blog post on Thursday. Alook says using calling cards and international SIM cards may have been acceptable once, but posits that technology now provides an easier way to get around long distance.
Jajah has certainly come a long distance itself from its humble roots, having forged partnerships with veritable giants of the tech and telco world, including Yahoo, Intel, eHarmoney and even Microsoft.
“This is a fantastic example of how VoIP and traditional phone and mobile companies are coming together to bring the new generation of communication,” concludes Alook.