Vonage, which provides residential phone services over the Internet, is planning an initial public offering to raise as much as $600 million, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
Citing a person familiar with the matter, the newspaper said Vonage had already raised more than $400 million in venture capital from firms that include Bain Capital, 3i Group and Institutional Venture Partners.
There was no immediate comment from the Edison, N.J.-based company, which declined comment to the Journal.
Vonage provides cheap local and long-distance phone services to about 800,000 households, making it the largest U.S. Internet-based phone company.
Customers with high-speed Internet connections plug an adaptor into a regular telephone and get a service that is largely identical to a standard phone service, except that it runs over their Internet connection.
Any IPO from Vonage, which has notched furious growth since it started offering a service in 2002, would be an important test of investors' appetite for technology start-ups after many investors were burned by the meltdown of high-profile telecommunications and Internet stocks that started in 2000, the Journal said.
Vonage faces increasing competition from deep-pocketed rivals, including AT&T and many cable companies, which are quickly adding voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP, to their high-speed Internet offerings.
Vonage also faces competition from a growing number of Internet giants, including Microsoft's MSN unit and Yahoo, which are adding voice components to instant messaging and gaming.
http://news.com.com/Vonage+plans+600+million+IPO%2C+report+says/2100-1036_3-5842895.html?tag=nefd.top
Citing a person familiar with the matter, the newspaper said Vonage had already raised more than $400 million in venture capital from firms that include Bain Capital, 3i Group and Institutional Venture Partners.
There was no immediate comment from the Edison, N.J.-based company, which declined comment to the Journal.
Vonage provides cheap local and long-distance phone services to about 800,000 households, making it the largest U.S. Internet-based phone company.
Customers with high-speed Internet connections plug an adaptor into a regular telephone and get a service that is largely identical to a standard phone service, except that it runs over their Internet connection.
Any IPO from Vonage, which has notched furious growth since it started offering a service in 2002, would be an important test of investors' appetite for technology start-ups after many investors were burned by the meltdown of high-profile telecommunications and Internet stocks that started in 2000, the Journal said.
Vonage faces increasing competition from deep-pocketed rivals, including AT&T and many cable companies, which are quickly adding voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP, to their high-speed Internet offerings.
Vonage also faces competition from a growing number of Internet giants, including Microsoft's MSN unit and Yahoo, which are adding voice components to instant messaging and gaming.
http://news.com.com/Vonage+plans+600+million+IPO%2C+report+says/2100-1036_3-5842895.html?tag=nefd.top
