Feature-rich voice services over broadband, remove need for customers to pay for a landline as well as subscribing to broadband

10 April 2013, Oxfordshire, UK: Gigaclear, a provider of ultrafast fibre-optic broadband to the UK’s rural communities, has partnered with Vonage, a leading provider of Internet based voice communications services. The partnership will make it possible for Gigaclear’s ultrafast broadband customers to benefit from lower cost telephone services that work over broadband, instead of paying for a traditional landline in addition to subscribing to broadband.

Vonage products enable customers to keep their existing landline numbers, and use their existing handsets, to make UK and international calls, without continuing to pay line rental to their existing telephony provider. Gigaclear customers who take the Vonage product with their broadband service will pay a monthly fee of £5.99 for unlimited UK landline calls– saving them on average up to £15 per month in line rental.

Gigaclear chief executive, Matthew Hare said, “We are constantly looking for ways to provide additional value to our customers. This partnership with Vonage is an example of that. Up to fifty per cent of existing Gigaclear customers already use Vonage to reduce their monthly communications costs and take advantage of the additional call features Vonage offers once they have reliable, ultrafast broadband. We wanted to make it easier and cheaper for new customers to do so too.”

Many Gigaclear customers are small business owners operating from their rural home to avoid commuting and the cost of funding separate business premises. Subscribing to the Vonage service provides them with additional flexibility in the way they sell and market themselves.

Simon Burckhardt, Managing Director, Vonage UK said, “Vonage is a very cost effective option for Gigaclear customers. Using our product on top of the Gigaclear service will mean they can cancel their existing telephone line rental agreements - saving – on average - over £100 a year. In addition to saving money, our service offers customers a number of useful features, such as being able to have multiple numbers on one account, being able to choose your number, and being able to have an international number – all great features if you’re setting up, or running a small business.”

As well as providing greater flexibility in the choice of numbering, Vonage offers additional call features that improve usability and the ability to stay in touch. For example, voice messages can be sent to mobile devices as text or sound files, so customers can be confident that even when they’re away from their home or home office, they’ll never miss an important message. Customers who travel abroad and either worry that they’re missing calls or incur huge roaming fees having their calls forwarded, can take their numbers with them - simply by plugging their Vonage adapter into any available Internet connection.

Gigaclear is currently completing construction of its fifth fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network. It serves communities that are not currently served or ‘planned to be served’ by a high-speed broadband provider. To qualify, communities must comprise at least 400 properties and 30 per cent of the community must pre-sign. For further information see www.gigaclear.com/can-i-get-it