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Vonage Equips Over 40 New Counties with VoIP E911TMCnet VoIP Minute Watch Columnist
VoIP-based calling services provider Vonage Holdings Corp. announced on Monday that almost all of its customers have basic 911 service and that it is continuing to quickly equip new counties across the nation every day with Enhanced 911 service, a feature that automatically associates a physical address with the calling party's telephone number. In less than two weeks, Vonage turned on E911 service at an additional 125 calling centers, in over 40 new counties, bringing the total number of Vonage customers with E911 to nearly 60 percent.
VoIP service providers had to step up to the plate and get their E911 access up and running after the Federal Communications Commission ordered they do so back in June last year. The agency gave the companies 120 days to complete the difficult task. Vonage worked closely with local Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), across the country to turn on E911 for as many customers as quickly as it could. Vonage is currently testing new PSAPs which are VoIP-ready every day. "Currently, a majority of our customers have full E911 capability," said Jeffrey A. Citron, Vonage's Chairman and Chief Strategist. "In just over a month, we have turned on E911 in over 740 PSAPs and 190 new counties across the nation. By comparison, it took the wireless industry 10 years to turn on emergency 911 service in one-half of the nation's PSAPs, a feat we've accomplished in less than a year. And Vonage will continue to work with the FCC, regulators, Congress and public safety until PSAPs across the nation are equipped with E911."
Vonage made news recently when it announced that it filed to go public and appointed Michael Snyder as the company's new CEO. The VoIP service provider managed to raise up to 250 million dollars in a stock offering. The move will surely secure Vonage the number one spot amongst the key industry players to first go public.
News reports about Vonage filing for IPO first surfaced back in August. According to TheDeal.com, the VoIP service provider was planning to file for an initial public offering (IPO) that 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.
Vonage Holdings Corp.
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Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet and Internet Telephony magazine. To see more articles by Johanne Torres, please visit Johanne Torres' columnist page.
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