IP telephony company Net2Phone has linked
with free ad-backed e-mail provider CommTouch to offer low-cost PC-to-phone
service directly to CommTouch subscribers.
Consumers with free e-mail accounts at CommTouch partner Web sites can now
simply click on a Net2Phone link from inside their e-mail user interface to
make inexpensive telephone calls through the Internet to any telephone number
in the world. Financial arrangements were not disclosed.
A single, unified address book in the e-mail inbox contains both e-mail and
telephone contact information.
“We have always viewed the Web e-mail account as a user’s ‘home’ on the
Internet,” said Isabel Maxwell, CommTouch’s president. “For the first time,
users
have a home telephone that lets them call anyone on the planet–and for a
lot less than Ma Bell charges.”
Net2Phone, a division of telecom carrier IDT, is a provider of Internet phone
services. Net2Phone charges 4.9 cents per minute for domestic calls, 10 cents
per minute for calls to Europe and Australia, and 20 cents per minute for
calls to Japan.
“Whenever people send a message from their free e-mail account, they can also
choose to dial a low-rate phone call,” said Jonathan Reich, senior vice
president of marketing and business
development at Net2Phone. “With an integrated e-mail address/phone book, the
user has all their options a single click away.”
