Rebtel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Type | VoIP |
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| Website | www.rebtel.com |
Rebtel is a Mobile VoIP (Voice over IP) provider and currently the second largest in the world after Skype.[1] The company was founded in 2006 in, Stockholm, Sweden by Hjalmar Winbladh and Jonas Lindroth.[2] The Rebtel offices are located in Stockholm, Sweden and Luxembourg. The company's CEO is Andreas Bernstrom, formerly COO of TradeDoubler.
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[edit] Service
The Rebtel service allows for a new method of making international calls using a feature-phone, landline, smartphone or desktop PC. The technology facilitates low-cost or free mobile-mobile and mobile-landline international calls and works over Wi-Fi, 3G or by creating local landline numbers in both the country of origin and destination and routing the international part of the call over VoIP. For the user, this means being able to call free of cost to other users of the Rebtel service or to any other non-user phone for a substantially lower cost by comparison to a regular Mobile network operator. As opposed to other similar services offering calls over VoIP, the core Rebtel service that leverages local numbers works on any phone and without any additional user-installed software, computers or Internet connections and with any mobile phone and Mobile network operator.
[edit] History
- May, 2005 Rebtel was registered[2] by Swedes Hjalmar Winbladh and Jonas Lindroth.
- December, 2006 Rebtel launched at Innovate Europe conference.
- June, 2006 Rebtel.com/en & service launched.
- September, 2006 Rebtel raises Series A round of $20 million in external venture capital financing from Index Ventures and Balderton Capital.[3]
- January 9, 2007 Rebtel introduces partnership with Polish portal site Onet.pl[citation needed]
- March, 2007 Red Herring (magazine) announces Rebtel as the recipient of the Red Herring 100 Europe, an award given to the top 100 private technology companies based in the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region each year.[4]
- May, 2007 Rebtel.com/es in spanish is launched.
- January, 2008 1.7 million created local Rebtel numbers[citation needed].
- January, 2008 Rebtel becomes available in China, and adds local numbers in Shanghai.
- February, 2008 Rebtel launch partnership with easyMobile.com[citation needed].
- August, 2008 Large operator O2 blocks Rebtel access numbers in Germany making it difficult for O2 customers to make international calls with Rebtel. Rebtel decides to go head-to-head with O2 by renewing all German number series for users.[5]
- September, 2009 The german Rebtel access number is blocked by the provider E-Plus, effectively rendering the service less useful for calls to partners not in the partner list. The situation is explained by E-Plus officials that "individual numbers which by generating high traffic impede the service are blocked due to technical reasons".[citation needed]
- September, 2009 Andreas Bernstrom is appointed new CEO. "Rebtel Recruits New CEO to Spearhead Expansion" (Press release). Rebtel. September 3, 2009. http://newsroom.rebtel.com/rebtel-recruits-new-ceo-to-spearhead-expansion/.
- October, 2009 Rebtel launches the Rebtel iPhone application after a nine-month approval process with Apple Inc.[7]
- January, 2010 Rebtel acquires part of competitor Talkster[8]
- March, 2010 Rebtel launches the Rebtel Android (operating system) application[9]
- June, 2010 Rebtel reports a 100% jump in revenue in 2010 compared to 2009, increasing revenue from $8 million to $16 million. The service also loggs its one billionth minute in international calls.[10]
- November, 2010 Rebtel for Android is awarded with Best Utility App award at Swedish mobile industry awards Mobilgalan "Rebtel Awarded For Best Utility App at Mobilgalan 2010" (Press release). Rebtel. November 12, 2010. http://blog.rebtel.com/uncategorized/rebtel-wins-best-utility-app-award/.
- January, 2011 Rebtel reports 9 million users, revenues of more than $40 million in 2011 and a revenue run-rate projected to hit $75 million by end of year.[10]
- January, 2011 Rebtel launches international calling application for BlackBerry "Rebtel Aims at Skype With Free International Calling on BlackBerry" (Press release). GigaOm. January 14, 2011. http://gigaom.com/2011/01/14/rebtel-aims-at-skype-with-free-international-calling-on-blackberrys/.
- May, 2011 Red Herring (magazine) announces Rebtel has been selected as a finalist in Red Herring’s Top 100 Europe award, a prestigious list honoring the year’s most promising private technology ventures from the European business region.[4]
- October, 2011 Rebtel launches second generation iPhone application with Wi-Fi and 3G calling support and reports 13 million users[7]
- October, 2011 Rebtel launches its first application for desktop PCs. "Rebtel unveils Rebtel 2.0 app for smartphone, desktop" (Press release). TelecomPaper. October 14, 2011. http://www.telecompaper.com/news/rebtel-unveils-rebtel-20-app-for-smartphone-desktop/.
- November, 2011 Rebtel is awarded with the Swedish Innovation Award. Previous winners include music streaming service Spotify. "The Innovation Award 2011" (Press release). AF Consult. November 28, 2011. http://www.afconsult.com/lt/-/Press/News/The-Innovation-Award-2011/?area=WW&areaID=48176.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Rebtel’s Voice-over-IP app hops between data/voice networks, a first". VentureBeat. http://venturebeat.com/2011/10/13/rebtel-iphone-app-keeptalking/. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
- ^ a b "The Rebtel Story". Rebtel. http://www.rebtel.com/upload/global/media/The%20Rebtel%20Story%20edit%201.pdf. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
- ^ "Rebtel Snags $20M First Round". Red Herring. September 25, 2006. http://www.redherring.com/Home/18774. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
- ^ a b "The Red Herring 100 Europe 2007" (Press release). Rebtel. March 19, 2007. http://newsroom.rebtel.com/the-red-herring-100-europe-2007/.
- ^ Pfauth, Ernst-Jan (August 26, 2008). "Cheap international calls service Rebtel blocked by O2". The Next Web. http://thenextweb.org/2008/08/26/cheap-international-calls-service-rebtel-blocked-by-o2/. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
- ^ "Who can call it?". iNum. http://www.inum.net/what-is-inum/inum-partners/. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
- ^ a b "Apple Gives Green Light To Mobile VoIP iPhone App From Rebtel" (Press release). Rebtel. October 21, 2009. http://newsroom.rebtel.com/2009/10/apple-gives-green-light-to-mobile-voip-iphone-app-from-rebtel/.
- ^ "Rebtel Buying a Part of Talkster" (Press release). Rebtel. January 18, 2010. http://gigaom.com/2010/01/18/rebtel-buying-a-part-of-talkster/.
- ^ "Rebtel launches the Rebtel Android application" (Press release). Rebtel. March 23, 2010. http://newsroom.rebtel.com/free-international-mobile-calling-standard-reset-by-rebtel/.
- ^ a b "Rebtel Makes International Calling Free With New Android App" (Press release). Rebtel. June 24, 2010. http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/24/rebtel-makes-international-calling-free-with-new-android-app/.
