Voice communications technology company
PeerMe, Inc. launched its free service designed to allow users of Sprint EVDO mobile phones to make free unlimited calls. PeerMe CEO Tom Lasater says, "Sprint has the best EVDO network in the U.S., but at the same time they have the highest churn in the industry and they signed up fewer new users than any of their competitors this year. We are giving them the ability to use their technological edge to become the leader in the U.S. wireless market."
PeerMe uses VoIP technology to enable mobile phone users to communicate with each other from anywhere in the world to anywhere in the world for free. Instead of paying exorbitant rates for "peak hour" calls or overseas connections, users can make unlimited calls from their cell phones while only paying a small monthly fee to their wireless carriers.
"Nobody in the cell phone industry has done a marketing campaign touting the tremendous cost savings that can result from using peer-to-peer voice on a wireless broadband mobile device. Carriers are probably scared of cannibalizing their revenues, but lets look at the real cost of offering this service. Most people pay a flat fee for what is basically unlimited talk time within the U.S., so PeerMe usage is going to affect revenue from overseas calls. The reality is that the erosion of revenue from overseas calls already happened in the 1990s. Sprint should do a massive advertising campaign touting their EVDO-enabled devices as the solution for outrageous communications costs. Sprint could not only crush its mobile competitors with this strategy, they could also blindside the DSL and fixed-line broadband industry.”