Tracking Down VOIP Investments

In the hunt for the rare VOIP investment play, Russell Shaw offers a take from the Wall Street Transcript, which features an interview with Kaufman Brothers analyst Ari Moses. So what are Moses' leading VOIP plays? deltathree, Covad and Net2Phone. What I find most interesting is the Q&A suggests analysts are starting to think about VOIP investment plays. For the enterprising analyst, there is an opportunity to carve out a distinct niche – much like Mary Meeker and Henry Blodget capitalized on the dot-com boom to make themselves into superstars (and I use that term loosely given they only knew a tad more than the rest of us). I think over the next year, there will be VOIP IPOs, although the market will likely be pragmatic and cautious (translation: demanding that a company have sales, profits and customers) rather than speculative. In Canada, Terry Matthews' Mitel Networks sticks out as the most likely candidate, although CEO Don Smith sounded cautious about the idea in a recent interview.