Vopium founder, Tanveer Sharif, is presently in the USA participating in the U.S. State Department’s New Beginnings program.  U.S. President Obama announced the New Beginnings initiative at his Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship. The program is part of the International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), the U.S. Department of State’s premier professional exchange program.

Sharif is one of 31 “high-growth, high-potential entrepreneurs” chosen from around the world to take part in the program.   According to the state department’s program, U.S. embassies selected high-growth, high-potential entrepreneurs who are committed to growing their businesses and creating new employment opportunities in their communities. Selected delegates demonstrate high levels of interest in creativity and innovation. They are forward thinking, open to new ideas, and keenly interested in establishing and expanding business relationships with colleagues and peers in the U.S.
Tanveer Sharif’s contribution to these meetings will be particularly important, as Vopium is a provider of high quality, simple to use, low cost telecommunications services that link various people and communities around the globe.

“I am extremely honored to be participating in the New Beginnings program. It is a terrific opportunity to learn and grow as a person, as well as gain invaluable business insight and practical strategies to share with my company, Vopium,” says Tanveer Sharif, Vopium founder. He adds, “I look forward to visiting the U.S. from coast to coast, whilst being inspired and motivated daily by my fellow delegates and the business leaders we meet on our journey.”

Now in its 70th year, nearly 200,000 distinguished individuals have participated in IVLP programs, including more than 320 current and former Chiefs of State and Heads of Government, and thousands of leaders from the public and private sectors.
The program’s objective is to develop stronger public-private partnerships that increase economic opportunity, and provide greater science and technology, educational, and cultural interaction.  The program lasts three weeks from today  through October 15th. Participants will visit four U.S. cities: New York, San Francisco, Washington and Phoenix meeting with their American counterparts.

TMCnet discusses the latest mobile VoIP industry trends and developments, as well as Vopium’s (News – Alert) place in the market with Vopium CEO, Tanveer Sharif.

TMC: What top trends do you see happening in your industry and what is driving these trends?

TS: I believe that we are seeing and will continue to see the ongoing migration away from fixed-lines to mobiles. A trend being driven obviously by the fall in the cost of a mobile call, but additionally, by the many more types of communications now being performed with mobiles and mobile apps, in the sense that people are chatting or they are on Twitter or IM. Mobile communication has become more than just voice. It has come to mean, IM, chat, Wi-Fi, twits and much more.

The mobile has become our communications hub; we have shifted away from fixed lines, whether it is our home telephone or even our PC, to becoming truly mobile, much of it made possible by rich voice solutions.
TMC: What new products, services, or enhancements to your existing solutions have you developed in response to these issues, and how will they help improve your performance?

TS: While Vopium always seeks to add more projects to our pipeline that will improve the user and calling experience, we nevertheless, continually strive to enhance the services that we already deliver.
We are always looking to improve sound quality and usability. To this end, the latest versions of our apps for the respective mobile platforms: iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Symbian (News – Alert) Nokia and Java, have all made significant strides. The sound quality has been vastly improved due to low bandwidth codecs while the usability of the apps, from registering to choosing how you would like to connect your call based on call cost preview, have all greatly enhanced their functionality.

TMC: Where does your company fit in the marketplace? What are your core differentiators?

TS: I believe we produce a product that is easier to use and simpler to understand than the others. Basically, anyone that needs to make an international call and would like to do it from the freedom of their mobile phone, meaning while they’re in the car or at the ballgame, benefits from Vopium. There’s not much more than that.

We have eliminated the hurdles that still exist with the other mobile VoIP providers. With Vopium, you do not need to dial a special access number; change your service provider; enter some 15-digit pin code or even call from a Wi-Fi connection – although you can of course, call from Wi-Fi with Vopium – but the choice is yours. In other words, you do not need a smartphone with Vopium, but you certainly can. If you are still using an old school Nokia (News  – Alert), it doesn’t matter, you can still save up to 94 percent on your international calls, dialing direct from your mobile and your contacts, with Vopium.

Vopium is unique in that you do not need to get a special username or new identity. You dial, IM, SMS from your mobile, your telephone number: that is your identity. To make a call, just enter the number or tap the contact, if it is international, you can choose to use Vopium. If you are Wi-Fi or 3G enabled, you can choose to use Vopium, even for domestic calls. If it is Wi-Fi to Wi-Fi, and you are both on Vopium, you can call free.

TMC: What sets Vopium apart from other VoIP service providers?

TS: I believe what truly sets Vopium apart, aside from the app’s ease of use and simplicity that we just highlighted, is that we are actually not trying to set ourselves apart from the Telco mainstream. We are not seeking to disrupt anyone’s business – we are actually looking to benefit them.

Vopium actively partners with companies by delivering a white label version of our mobile communications platform: enabling businesses, from operators to MVNOs, to tap into the exploding market and demand for rich voice services. With our turnkey platform, companies can deliver a full suite of mobile and fixed line international calling, domestic Wi-Fi calling, IM, global SMS packages and much more, featuring  great sound quality and at the absolute lowest prices: all under their brand and their network, and importantly, for a minimal investment

Presently, we are putting the final touches on two global white label partnerships and are in talks with others.

So again, if you asked me what sets Vopium apart, I would say that it is the goal of not being apart but rather, a part of the solution. We help companies and people like you and me, take advantage of rich voice services in a cost effective, easy-to-use solution.

Danes can now call around the world at the lowest prices – directly from their mobile with Vopium Sonomio partnership

Copenhagen, August 30, 2011; Vopium, a leading innovator in mobile global communications, has partnered with Sonomio, a Danish mobile service provider, to provide international calling directly from your mobile phone that not only beats Skype in price, but simplicity too – no Wi-Fi connection needed.

As part of a reseller partnership between the two companies, Sonomio customers can now download from the Sonomio website Vopium’s free mobile VoIP calling app as well as take advantage of Vopium international call plans and pay as you go call credits. The two companies will split revenue as per the reseller agreement.

Vopium mobile to mobile international call prices are significantly lower than Skype to a majority of countries including favorite Danish calling corridors like Germany, Norway, UK, Turkey and Pakistan with a slight difference in others like the USA.

Importantly, with the Vopium Sonomio solution, mobile users do not need a Wi-Fi connection to place the call as with Skype or other mobile VoIP providers. They can however if they choose, take advantage of a Wi-Fi connection with the solution and in fact, call fellow Vopium Sonomio users free if both parties are on Wi-Fi.

At present, Sonomio provides primarily domestic calling services to its Danish subscribers. Teaming up with Vopium will now enable Sonomio to offer global calling to its customers at rates that are not only lower than Skype, but a majority of calling cards and Danish telcos as well.

“Sonomio is very excited to be teaming up with Vopium. The partnership enables Sonomio customers to call around the world from their mobiles at the lowest prices with no hidden costs. Vopium’s easy to use, low cost global calling solutions complement our goal at Sonomio to deliver cost effective mobile services that are straightforward and simple to understand,” says Annette Buus, administrative director of Sonomio.

Both Sonomio and Vopium offer subscription-based and pre paid call plans, so customers always know beforehand how big, or small in this case, their phone bills are. Likewise, because Sonomio customers pay a fixed price based on the hours they choose to use per month, when they do make a global call with Vopium, the time spent on the international call is counted as part of their Sonomio subscription. In this way, their present subscription now covers both the minutes they use locally as well as on international calls, so they end up only paying in essence, Vopium international rates for the global call.

“Our partnership with Sonomio gives Vopium a terrific channel to deliver our low cost calling services to more people. Sonomio’s dedication to providing superior service at the best prices matches our vision and demonstrates the value Vopium’s mobile VoIP calling solution brings to mobile service providers and their customers,” says Tanveer Sharif, CEO at Vopium.

Mark Bridge writes:

Voice over IP – the ability to make phone calls over the internet – is a topic we covered in our first-ever podcast five years ago. At times it promised to change the way we used mobile phones… so what’s been happening?

I’ve been talking to Tanveer Sharif, CEO and co-founder of international call service Vopium, to learn more.

I started by asking Tanveer why Voice over IP and mobile VoIP hadn’t disrupted our usage of fixed line and mobile networks.

For the complete story

Vopium recently sponsored an Annual Charity Dinner in Copenhagen that each year supports a worthy cause around the world. This year’s event was dedicated to raising funds for victims of drought in Somalia.

Thousands of Somalia are suffering from the worst drought in years with no access to food or drinking water. The charity event was attended by more than 700 people from all walks of life representing different communities living in Denmark.

Guests were very enthusiastic about helping those who are less fortunate than us and contributed generously for the cause. Vopium remains committed to keep sponsoring such events in future and thus, keep giving something back to the community in more than one ways.

Discover the latest Mobile VoIP industry trends and developments in an in depth conversation with Vopium CEO, Tanveer Sharif on the UK podcast, The Fonecast

Vopium announces an exciting Ramadan and Eid offer to enable you to stay in touch with your family and friends for less. Vopium is reducing our already low prices to 16 countries by up to 33% from now until September 4, 2011.

With this offer, you can now call Pakistan only for EUR 0.04/min, Saudi Arabia for only EUR 0.1/min, Bangladesh for only EUR 0.03/min or UAE for only EUR 0.12/min on your mobile.

Stay closer to your family and friends in the holy month of Ramadan & joyous occasion of Eid with Vopium.

Wishing you all a very Happy Ramadan and Eid!

Vopium is very pleased to announce the appointment of Christian Lillelund as its new Head of Product Management. Christian brings extensive mobile technology and market experience to Vopium.

Before joining Vopium, Christian worked 11 years for Nokia in many diverse product management roles, spending the last two as senior product manager for the Finnish company’s smartphone platform. He will now work closely with Vopium’s R&D teams to plan and implement the product road map across mobile and desktop applications.

Prior to Nokia, Christian was an IT consultant with CSC and a teacher at the Aarhus School of Business. Christian will work out of the Vopium Copenhagen office.

Travel season 2011 is heating up with most of you itching to get away. Make your vacation the best ever by winning the best travel companion ever, an iPad 2!

Join in the fun and enter “Vopium’s iPad 2 Surprise.” Contest runs from August 01, 2011 (12:00 CET) – August 30, 2011 (12:00 CET) on Facebook. The winner will be announced on August 31st, 2011.

To join, just “Like” Vopium on our Facebook page and then fill out the iPad 2 contest entry form. That’s it, good luck!