Voxbone aims to let consumers keep one phone number for life

Voxbone, a wholesaler of transferrable VoIP phone numbers to service providers, announced that 8 out of 10 respondents wanted to have on phone number for life so as not to lose contact information after a move or service provider change, according to the results of a survey it commissioned. It said the traditional line-based way phone numbers are handled needs to shift to an individually focused strategy, and it aims to facilitate that transition through its iNum service, which lets consumers keep the same phone number, even if moving overseas.

Voxbone CEO Rod Ullens said the company buys bundles of numbers from the ITU, then sells them to service providers for resale to end-users. Voxbone maintains relationships with a large number of VoIP and next-gen network operators to let consumers keep their number where ever they might move, and Ullens said the company is seeking additional partnerships with incumbent telcos and mobile network operators to expand the iNum programs reach.

"As the world population becomes increasingly migratory, phone numbers need to evolve to reflect users' changing expectations," Ullens said in a release. "There's a new geography being created that's about local presence and global relationships rather than distance or national borders. People no longer consider themselves tied down to a single location and don't expect their phone number to be either."