Vonage Where You Want To

If you're roaming around the world, you can take your Vonage with you. Vonage CEO Jeffrey Citron says everything's going well at his company.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [December 17, 2004]

Vonage CEO Jeffrey Citron is talking to journalists and analysts all day. When we reach him on a conference bridge, he's just finishing up the previous interview, talking on his cell phone from a car that's taking him to lunch.

"We are number one, in terms of major players," says Citron. He's referring to our recently released U.S. VoIP Ranking by Subscriber: Q3 2004, which ranks Vonage fourth. "There just aren't very many major players, those with 100,000 or more paying subscribers," he says.

Asked about a market that's expected to become even more competitive in 2005, Citron dismisses the idea. "Today, you can get free e-mail from about 100,000 providers. That's a competitive market, but only three or four companies do for the masses." Certainly AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft (Hotmail), and now Google lead the market.

In the VoIP market, Citron's not afraid of any big bad wolf. "There are competitors, even effective competitors, but they are for the most part in the market already, such as the phone and cable companies."

Vonage around the world
Vonage, Citron notes, is not limited by geography. "Vonage is all over the world," he says.

Vonage has won significant regulatory victories in 2004 (see FCC Rules VoIP an Interstate Service). But Citron notes there's more work to do. "The goal was to achieve a consistent national framework, and we've got that. Universal service still needs to be resolved. We're working with the states and the Federal Government on 911 services, especially E911, but working with the states on issues like E911 is not a bad thing."

Now that Vonage has credibility, and VoIP has credibility, it's easier to get access to the databases and equipment that are used to provide 911 and E911 services.

Things are going well. "It's all going according to the plan I would have predicted," Citron says.

Vonage's future plans, Citron says, include adding video and mobility through Wi-Fi technology.

For ISPs, he suggests finding a good partner and sending the right message to the customer.

So what's the most effective marketing message for VoIP?

"Just try it," Citron says, as he arrives at the restaurant.

— End