TelTel, a provider of SIP-based global Internet telephony services with presence-enabled features, announced that it has secured $8.8 million in Series A venture capital. Purple Communications Ltd., Acorn Angels and Parawin Venture Capital participated in the funding. The investors selected TelTel because it is the first to offer an immediate turnkey VoIP solution that enables service providers and enterprises to rapidly deploy VoIP and multimedia solutions to their customers. With over 1.5 million registered users and partnerships with service providers worldwide, TelTel hosts the world's largest SIP-based Internet telephony user community.

"This funding is a proof point for TelTel as one of the premier VoIP solution providers in the market today," said IDC Research Manager Will Stofega. "They have strong products and solutions available today."

TelTel will use the funding to further meet the demands of a rapidly growing market looking to deploy VoIP services, IP handsets and softphones. Service providers, ISPs and e-businesses want to immediately offer a branded VoIP solution to their customer base with minimum lead-time and upfront investment. The new financing enables TelTel to expand its global network infrastructure and rapidly rollout new services for its service provider partners.

TelTel's solution takes advantage of a managed SIP-based backbone, providing better routing and quality than typical peer-to-peer telephony. TelTel recently was awarded the 2005 Internet Telephony Best SIP-based Peer-to-Peer Solution and VoIP Service Provider award as well as named Top 50 Vendor from Service Provider Weekly.

"This funding from both US and overseas investors is a vote of confidence in TelTel's delivery of next-generation VoIP services," said Jack Chang, President and Chief Operating Officer of TelTel. "We are proud to be the only company offering a rapidly deployable and branded end-to-end solution for IP telephony."

The management team at TelTel brings together the considerable entrepreneurial experience of CEO Sherman Tuan and President and COO Jack Chang. Tuan's accomplishments include successfully founding several high technology companies, including AboveNet Communications, which went public on NASDAQ, and was purchased by Metromedia Fiber Networks in a multi-billion dollar transaction. Prior to joining TelTel, Chang founded several companies including Blue Silicon, a leading provider of hosted unified and multimedia messaging solutions for service providers and enterprises worldwide.