Spokane may get Internet phone firm

A British Columbia entrepreneur plans to launch a company in Spokane to develop an Internet telephone product targeted towards Asian workers in the United States.

John Dafoe, the president of the company, hopes to launch it within several months if he can raise close to a million dollars in a public stock offering.

Dafoe and partners are calling the company VoQal Communications, Inc. While the company is registered in Nevada, Spokane is listed as its headquarters, he said. That’s because Dafoe wants to hire a technology engineer who lives in Spokane and who doesn’t want to move.

“This guy had worked for Microsoft, and he’s said he’ll do work for us if we raise the money,” said Marc Crimeni, who is the marketing and sales consultant for VoQal.

He would not identify the former Microsoft worker, who he said is not currently working full-time.

The technology VoQal intends to develop could allow people making international calls to save money. It would use the increasingly popular VoIP (voice over Internet protocol) technology that sends phone calls in digital packets at lower cost than traditional phone service. VoIP calls use phones connected to a computer, plus a router that converts voice messages into digital form. The person on the receiving end doesn’t need to have a computer for VoIP to function.

Dafoe said the first target group for VoQal is the large number of Filipinos working in the United States. “They are probably in the top five or six of all groups in the U.S. in terms of dollars spent on long-distance calls,” he said.

Most now use calling cards, which cost from 8 cents to 15 cents a minute. VoQal’s goal is to offer plans that cut the cost to 6 to 7 cents a minute.

Once established, VoQal will broaden its markets to other ethnic groups who rely on phones to stay in touch with family and friends in Asia, said Crimeni.

“VoIP is the future of telecommunications, that’s clear,” Crimeni said. “We’ve picked out just a small target segment of that industry.”

Dafoe’s registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission says the company hopes to raise $935,000 through a stock offering. The offering can’t be scheduled until after the SEC approves the VoQal registration.

Both Dafoe and Crimeni admit a large hurdle facing the company is to develop a product that can be easily installed on the computers customers will have access to. They’ve developed a marketing plan that recognizes many customers will either use computers belonging to other people — perhaps their employers — or use computers at public places, like Internet cafes.

In the first instance, the plan is to have a simple-to-install program that will allow someone with little technical background to use the service.

For those using public machines, Crimeni said VoQal hopes to create a disk that can boot the phone-service program without having to install files on the PC. In that case, the user would need a VoQal account and a headset to make a phone call, he said.

Both Crimeni and Dafoe have worked for a number of technology companies in Canada. Neither has managed a company based in the United States, they said.

Dafoe said the company is seeking additional financing in the Seattle area. Getting that cash will depend, he said, on how soon the first version of the product can be introduced and delivered to customers.