Hey, Maybe Vonage Isn't Dead Yet

Vonage released its second quarter financial results today (I’ve embedded the release below with the new Zoho Viewer that launched last night). And while the stock continues to slide, revenues are way up and losses are slowing. Perhaps they can avoid the fate of competitor SunRocket, which shut down last month.

The company also says that they have “substantially completed” the workaround deployment for two of the patents at issue in the company-threatening patent litigation with Verizon. And development of the workaround for the third patent at issue is completed says Chairman Jeffrey Citron. A Federal court will have to agree before the company is in the clear.

Revenues for the quarter were a record $206 million, a 43% increase from the same period last year. Net losses were $34 million, down from $74 million in Q2 2006. The company still has $344 million in cash, although $66 million of that is reserved for collateral in the patent litigation.

Some bad news, though – customer churn increased to 2.5%/month. The company says they are extending the grace period for non-payment to encourage retention…but they may be retaining the deadbeats.

I am a long time Vonage customer but will soon be switching to Ooma (which, by the way, became available for purchase this morning) and getting rid of that $25/month Vonage fee. Vonage is a lot cheaper than a normal phone line, but free is hard to compete with. Perhaps some of the new hardware Vonage is testing with some customers will help them.