Net2Phone Lands Asia Telephony Pact

Looking for a cheaper call-termination port in Asia, Internet telephony firm Net2Phone, Inc. on Tuesday announced a deal to peer its network through Pan-Asian ISP PowerNet’s network.

The Newark, N.J.-based Net2Phone, which is struggling to convert former freeloading users into paid Web telephone subscribers, said the deal to co-locate its gateways at PowerNet’s Hong Kong-based network infrastructure would reduce worldwide termination rates.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Net2Phone said the pact would also provide a real-time management platform to monitor routing, billing, network connectivity and rates. Specifically, Net2Phone believes the PowerNet connection would help its resellers compete with other telco players in the Asian market.

Founded in 1995, Net2Phone sells Web telephone and voice hosting services over IP networks to consumers, businesses and carriers worldwide.

Lately, the company has been struggling to stem the flow of losses and was forced to lay off about 5 percent of its workforce last week. The company said the layoffs was implemented to reduce acquisition-related redundancies.