Engin drives VoIP call charges lower

Stuart Corner
Saturday, 10 September 2005 15:20

Business IT - Technology

Broadband VoIP phone service provider, engin, has reduced its prices for long distance calls within Australia from five cents per minute to 10 cents untimed and has introduced a new $9.95 monthly plan for customers signing up to use its analogue telephone interface, the engin voice box. In addition to the 10 cent long distance calls, engin is charging 3.5 cents per minute to Canada, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, UK and USA, four cents per minute to a further 26 international destinations, without flagfall charges and 29 cents per minute to mobiles.

It was only three months ago that engin reduced its national long distance rates from 10 cents to five cents per minute. In April, before these two rounds of tariff cuts, the company said it would breakeven at 30,000 subscribers, a number it expected will be achieved by June 2006, and that 50,000 customers would give it revenue of $40 million, EBITDA of $7 million and operating cash flow of $5 million.

There are two versions of the engin voice box. Series 1 enables users to make calls to, and receive calls from, any landline or mobile phone over their existing broadband Internet connection. engin Voice Box Series 2 allows customers to call their own phone number and route calls to any phone anywhere in the world through it and engin's rates.