Rebtel, the second largest voice-over Internet protocol service behind Skype reported a significant achievement today that demonstrates consumers just cant get enough of low cost phone calls. The company has announced that it has exceeded 15 million connected users since its launch in 2006. How ever its unsure if all 15 million are active users. Users of the service have made over 500 million calls and have made over two billion minutes of international calls.
Rebtel allows user to call each other for free or make cheap calls to international numbers through mobile and desktop PC apps. Users could also access the service without an app through any landline or mobile phones. Its lastest version 2.0 iPhone app that included a first-ever feature that allows users to hop between voice and date network during a call.
The company has been growing fast with the Rebtel boasting a monthly Average revenue Per User (ARPU) of $24 per month while Skype’s monthly ARPU is $8 . Its monthly ARPU is 3 times higher than Skype. It forecasts a revenue of $95 million in 2012 after a $60 million revenue in 2010;a 55% increase in comparison to 2010.
Andreas Bernstrom,CEO at Rebtel, stated in a statement”2011 was a great year for us, 2012 will be more of the same. We are focused on growing our user base, we aim to add up to ten million to our user base this year, as well as maintaining high revenue run rates and ensuring our apps are viral as they can be.” The company has invested funds in infrastructure for its service. Andreas Bernstrom stated that the Swedish Company has obtained finance from Benchmark Capital and Index Ventures in 2006 so that it could that could link with operators around the globe and end voice calls in any country.During 2011, the company put together the data side of its infrastructure, including codecs and stacks to carry voice over data connections.
