Call-Net's cautious approach to VOIP

If you listen to Call-Net Enterprise CEO Bill Linton, the emergence of Internet telephony may not be as rapid as many people believe. In announcing plans to roll out a VOIP service later this year, Mr. Linton said he does not think it will been seen as a replacement for the company's traditional circuit-switch offering. Mr. Linton makes a point that few in the VOIP world want to acknowledge – despite the fact VOIP technology works, consumer adoption will be slow until it becomes more user-friendly. As it stands now, consumers moving to VOIP are tech-savvy pioneers, rather than multi-phone households. The real noise in the VOIP market is how incumbent carriers are hoping to reduce costs by migrating voice, video and data traffic to IP networks. In the corporate market, VOIP is being used for many of the same reasons. This explains why Mitel Networks Corp. was easily able to raise $20-million from EdgeStone Capital Partners earlier this week, while converting $50 million of debt into equity – some which came from telecom entrepreneur Terry Matthews.