Voxbone becomes first pan-European ‘MVNE’ to offer mobile phone numbers that support voice and SMS, enabling mobile cloud communications providers

BRUSSELS – Dec 11, 2013 – Most over-the-top (OTT) VoIP providers have limited revenue opportunities because their services aren’t interoperable with those from legacy providers, particularly mobile operators. A new, industry-first service from Voxbone eliminates that barrier to growth by enabling OTT providers to integrate mobile phone numbers that support mobile calling and text messaging into their service offerings.

Voxbone is the first direct-inward-dialing (DID) service provider to offer mobile numbers that were previously only available from mobile operators in Europe and the first in the world to offer mobile numbers from multiple countries that support both voice and SMS. As such, Voxbone becomes the first pan-European “Mobile Virtual Network Enabler,” (MVNE).

Initially available in Spain and the U.K., Voxbone’s mobile numbers enable cloud communication providers to:

Attract and retain more consumer and business customers because they can now more easily communicate with family, friends, colleagues and clients who are on other communications networks.

Fully integrate mobile services into their B2B products, including cloud-based PBX and unified communications services.

Open new revenue streams from calling and texting to and from legacy mobile and landline networks.

Unlike managing phone numbers in the United States, where any number is available for all fixed and mobile services, most countries maintain separate inventories of numbers. For OTT VoIP providers, the lack of access to international mobile phone numbers eliminated the ability to integrate a mobile component into service offerings, especially for companies offering cloud-based Unified Communications (UC) platforms.

“Since 2005, service providers such as 8x8, NTT, Skype and Telefónica have turned to Voxbone when they wanted to enable interoperability between their cloud-based communications services and traditional phone networks,” said Voxbone CEO Itay Rosenfeld. “Until today, we have been very successful at enabling cloud communication providers to enter the market for fixed telephone services in many countries. Our ambition is to become the reference MVNE for all mobile cloud communication services with international ambitions.”

“VoIP providers and other next-generation communications players have historically had access to fixed numbers to bridge from their services to and from the traditional telecom world,” said Dean Bubley, founder of industry analyst and consulting company Disruptive Analysis. “But the availability of mobile numbers changes the game, allowing easy integration with SMS, or even the possibility of offering full, competitive ‘primary telephony’ on customers’ 4G devices.”

OTT providers can use a Web portal or API to order and configure Voxbone numbers, which are available with flat-rate pricing for voice and messaging. Voxbone plans to extend its mobile number service to additional European countries in 2014.