AT&T, Vonage slash Net telephony rates
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The Internet phone service providers try to win over consumers who now have a host of options when it comes to making calls.
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AT&amp;T filed a lawsuit against VoIP provider Vonage on Friday seeking damages for alleged patent infringement.The lawsuit comes just days after Vonage settled a patent-infringement lawsuit with telecom provider Sprint Nextel.In a filing with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, AT&amp;T alleged that Vonage wilfully infringed an AT&amp;T patent related to telephone systems that allow people to make VoIP calls using standard telephone devices.In the legal filing, AT&amp;T said it tried to reach an agreement with Vonage to license the patent, but failed, which forced the lawsuit.Vonage announced on Oct. 8 that it settled its suit with Sprint Nextel for $80 million. As part of that agreement, Vonage agreed to license VoIP patents from Sprint, including more than 100 patents covering technology for connecting calls from a traditional phone network to an IP network.Vonage is also in the process of resolving a patent infringement dispute with Verizon. Earlier this year, a court found&#160;Vonage infringed on Verizon patents&#160;and ordered an injunction that could have prevented Vonage from signing up new customers.&#160;Vonage won an injunction staying the order&#160;and is appealing the original infringement ruling. Vonage in August said it was close to rolling out workarounds for two of the three patents Verizon claimed.Vonage is one of the largest independent VoIP providers in the U.S. with nearly 2.5 million customers.
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AT&T Corp. T.N, the No. 3 U.S.  telephone company, on Thursday reported a $7.1 billion  third-quarter loss due to $12.5 billion in charges for cutting  asset values and jobs as it retreats from consumer services.
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AT&amp;T Corp. swung to a third-quarter loss of $7.12 billion due to huge charges from the company&#39;s retreat from traditional telephone services, which included at least 7,500 more job cuts and a writedown in the value of the company&#39;s long-distance network.
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gardel writes &quot;Voxilla reports that a VoIP price war was declared today. An announcement that AT&amp;T would drop its prices for its CallVantage Service from $34.
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NEW YORK -- AT&amp;T is cutting 7,400 additional jobs and slashing the book value of its assets by $11.4 billion, drastic moves prompted by the company&#39;s plan to retreat from the traditional consumer telephone business after a lost court battle.
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Internet phone company Vonage Holdings Corp. narrowed its fourth-quarter loss to $65 million as revenue nearly doubled with the addition of nearly 1 million customers during 2006.
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SAN FRANCISCO--The next battle between top Internet phone service providers Vonage and AT&amp;T will involve features like voice mail, according to key executives at both companies.
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AT&amp;T Corp. and Internet telephone provider Vonage said on Thursday they were cutting prices for their residential Internet calling services by $5 per month, the strongest
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AT&T Corp.  and Internet telephone  provider Vonage said on Thursday they were cutting prices for  their residential Internet calling services by $5 per month,  the strongest signs yet of a price war in the nascent market.
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Government regulators approved rules yesterday that would phase out discounts the four major regional telephone companies offer rivals for access to their networks, a move likely to lead to higher phone bills for some 18 million residential phone customers served by AT&amp;T Corp., MCI Inc., and other carriers.
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AT&amp;T Corp., the largest US long- distance telephone company, will eliminate 20 percent of its workforce this year and write down $11.
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Shares of long-distance phone  companies AT&T Corp. T.N and MCI Inc. MCIP.O have plunged  about 20 percent this year, but potential buyers seem to be  holding out for clearance sales.
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(InfoWorld) - Shares of Vonag plunged Friday in the wake ofÂ a patent-infringement ruling against the companyÂ that some analysts called a grim outcome for the VoIP service provider. Vonage stock fell $0.69 to $4.17 on the New York Stock Exchange, losing more than 14 percent of its value, after a jury decided on Thursday that the company infringed three Verizon patents on commercial VoIP services technology. Vonage was ordered to pay $58 million in damages and a 5.5 percent royalty rate on future sales. Verizon also is seeking a permanent injunction to keep Vonage from using the technologies. Vonage plans to appeal. The ruling comes after a string of setbacks for the scrappy service provider, which has yet to make a profit. Vonage was founded in 2001 and has built up its customer base to more than 2.2 million through heavy investments in marketing. Along the way, it has become the most visible independent provider of VoIP, which puts voice calls on data lines for lower cost and some extra features. TheÂ company has claimed Verizon sued in order to eliminate a competitor to the traditional circuit-switched phone service that is its bread and butter. Although the judgment is not very big compared to some, it could be devastating to Vonage if it stands, analysts said. "It's a drop in the bucket, but they need every cent they can get," said Will Stofega, a VoIP analyst at IDC. The company is already dealing with shareholder lawsuits over its disappointing IPO last year along with difficulty meeting regulatory requirements like E911 emergency service and the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, he said. The $58 million sum is about as much as the company is losing every quarter, Ovum analyst Jan Dawson pointed out in a research note on Friday. Vonage lost $65 million in the fourth quarter of 2006. "As this case gets more coverage, potential customers will be worried about signing up for new service with Vonage, and existing customers may churn in larger numbers than usual. Both of these effects would be disastrous for Vonage," Dawson wrote. Verizon might also go after other VoIP providers for infringing the patents, Stofega said. Big providers like the cable operators could absorb royalties, but smaller independent players would be even more vulnerable than Vonage. Already, regulatory requirements and "a race to the bottom" on pricing are threatening the stand-alone VoIP service business, he said. In a few years, many more people will be using the technology, but VoIP companies as such may become a thing of the past. Jeff Pulver, a longtime VoIP booster who co-founded Vonage before leaving the company, was more optimistic in an entry on The Jeff Pulver Blog, in which he called the ruling "the end of the seventh inning," a reference to baseball, which has nine innings. "This isn't the end of the battle," Pulver wrote. "I hope and trust this decision does not curb innovation and progress in VoIP and other Internet communications products, services, and applications."
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AT&T Corp.  and Internet telephone provider Vonage said on Thursday they were cutting prices for their residential Internet calling services by &#36;5 per month, the strongest signs yet of a price war in the nascent market.
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Voice over IP calls are getting cheaper - Vonage and AT&amp;T both announced lower monthly charges late last week. AT&amp;T said it would reduce its monthly charge by five dollars to $30 a month for unlimited local and long distance calls in Canada and the US.
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NEW YORK, Oct. 21 -- AT&T Corp. reported a third-quarter loss of $7.12 billion Thursday because of huge charges resulting from the company's retreat from traditional telephone services, which included at least 7,500 more job cuts and a write-down in the value of the company's long-distance network.