MSN Buys VoIP Company

RED HERRING | MSN Buys VoIP Company

Fresh on the heels of Google’s voice chat debut last week, Microsoft’s online portal MSN said Tuesday it has acquired Teleo, a San Francisco-based VoIP provider, for an undisclosed sum.

With Teleo, MSN gets a two-year-old privately held company that allows consumers to call cell phones and landlines from their computers. Redmond plans to integrate Teleo’s technology into future releases from MSN.

MSN’s instant messenger offering already has voice chat, which allows people to talk from one computer to another. A VoIP offering would be an improvement because it would allow consumers to make cheap calls to landlines and cell phones through their computers.

“Teleo has great technology to deliver superior VoIP quality and an excellent overall customer experience,” said Blake Irving, corporate vice president of the MSN communication services and member platform group. “This acquisition opens up infinite opportunities for Microsoft to enable even more relationship-centric communications experiences for our customers in the future.”