WCell International launches dirt-cheap Internet voice calling service across many mobile phones
WCell International launches dirt-cheap Internet voice calling service across many mobile phones
WCell International said today it has launched an inexpensive Internet calling service across a wide variety of mobile platforms from the Blackberry to Symbian.
The WCell application uses voice-over-Internet-protocol to deliver cheap but good quality voice calls. The platform includes Java, Blackberry, WinC, Palm OS, Windows Mobile, Palm, and Symbian. The iPhone version has been submitted and is pending approval from Apple. Brew and Android versions are also in the works.
The Hong Kong-based company is targeting both low end and high end users, with purported equal or better phone quality than seasoned VOIP providers such as Skype.
The market is crowded with competitors, including players such as Skype, mig33, Fring, Nimbuzz, Truphone, and Gizmo 5. But the company is counting on its wide reach, lower prices and better service to stand out. In particular, it is targeting customers who buy phones at retail stores, where the phone is not attached to any particular calling service.
Ish Paneet Singh, vice president at WCell International, says that WCell’s pay as you go rates (as low as a penny per minute, depending on country) are at least 60 percent cheaper than Skype’s. VOIP calls are are growing rapidly throughout the world because Internet-based calls are anywhere from 10 to 100 times cheapter than voice network calls.
WCell plans to give the customers added minutes for enlisting their friends. It will also sell cards at retail that customers can redeem to make calls on the service. Wcell’s goal is to hit 10 million paying users by Nov. 2009. Wcell International was founded in 2008 and has 65 employees. The company is self-funded, with $1.2 million raised from its founders.
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