Vonage Gets Funding for Broadband Service

Vonage Holdings Corp. is expected to announce today that it has received $40 million in financing to help it expand its broadband telephone service throughout the U.S., Canada, Britain and Switzerland.

The investor group was led by British venture capital firm 3i Group and Meritech Capital Partners in Palo Alto.

Vonage has more than 100,000 subscriber lines in service using its voice over Internet protocol technology, which sends voice signals like e-mail over high-speed data lines. VoIP service holds the promise of lower carrier costs and reduced phone bills.

The Edison, N.J., company has raised $103 million in venture capital since it was founded three years ago.

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James S. Granelli