Sonetel launches app that eliminates the cost of receiving business calls

Sonetel has launched a new mobile app in beta for iOS and Android that makes it possible to answer incoming calls to the company's phone number directly in the app. With it, the forwarding fee that previously arose when calls were passed on to the user's mobile disappears.

For the company, this is more than a product update. The feature addresses one of the most recurring objections from customers and could matter for the development of the company's subscription revenue.

Removing a recurring cost

Until now, incoming calls to a Sonetel number have been forwarded to the customer's mobile or landline. Each forwarding leg has carried a cost, which in several markets has made the service less competitive.

With the new app, calls are instead answered over Wi-Fi or mobile data, with no forwarding fee. The same release also introduces support for SMS to the business number, Bluetooth audio, call hold, and price display for international calls before they connect.

Can strengthen the company's most important revenue stream

Sonetel offers local business numbers in over 80 countries and has more than 34,000 paying customers. A large share use a phone number in a country other than where the business is based, to create a local presence in their export markets.

The business model rests largely on recurring subscription revenue from these numbers. At the same time, the cost of incoming calls has been a weak point, particularly in price-sensitive markets and in situations where calls are forwarded between different regions.

According to the company, the forwarding cost is the most common reason customers give when they cancel their subscription. By moving calls to a data-based app, this cost disappears.

The company makes no forecast of the effect the change will have on churn or subscription revenue, but the launch is aimed directly at one of the biggest points of friction in the offering.

Building a platform for AI services

The new app is also a strategic platform for coming AI features.

When calls and messages are handled directly in the app, the conditions are created for services such as automatic call summaries, transcription, drafts of follow-up emails, voicemail in text form, and SMS from the company's phone number.

The company describes the development as a step-by-step strategy in which basic telephony must first work fully before AI-based features can add value.

A year's rebuild, with AI-assisted development

The apps have been rebuilt from the ground up over just over a year. The previous generation was developed in 2019 for a business model the company later left, and lacked support for incoming calls, which was long a recurring complaint from users.

The new architecture handles both incoming and outgoing calls via the company's telecom platform, and was built with a way of working in which AI was used to support the software development.

Sonetel was founded in 2009, has paying customers in over 170 countries, and has been listed on Nasdaq First North Growth Market since 2017.

Read more

• More about the app, and what is rolling out next
• The press release on Cision, and the company's latest financial reports, via Cision