Telefonica courting Jajah for $200m

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Israeli VoIP start-up Jajah is expected to be acquired by Telefonica's mobile phone unit O2 for $200 million this week, according to news reports.
 
It is understood that O2 has been bidding against Cisco and Microsoft for the four-year-old company.
 
Jajah has 15 million subscribers who use its IP network for discounted voice calls to 125 countries.
 
To date it has raised $35 million from Deutsche Telekom, Intel Capital, Sequoia and other VC funds.
 
Analysts suggest that the reason for the sudden interest in the VoIP provider is its lean valuation compared to Skype’s $2.75 billion price-tag, and the current consumer expectation that VoIP services will be included in the mix among traditional services.