Skype was dealt a blow in its bid to monopolize the market for voice-over-internet phone calls when Jajah, its young competitor, announced it had secured $15 million of funding from Intel, the chip-maker.

Jajah, which is similar to Skype only users do not have to download any software or attach a headset to their computer, already boasts a community of 3 million users, and claims to be adding 400,000 every month.

Roman Scharf, one of Jajah’s co-founders, said that the money – part of a $20 million third round of venture funding – would be used to finance further R&D, build partnerships in emerging markets such as India, and explore PR and marketing opportunities.

“We have a vision for the future, which is that all phone calls will be internet-based and free,” Mr Scharf said. “We have removed several of the barriers to this happening – namely that you don’t need to download any software to use our service, and you don’t need a headset. Now all we need to remove is the payment barrier.”

Jajah works by getting the user to enter their phone number and the number they wish to call into its website. Both phones then begin to ring, the service having used voice-over-internet protocol (VOIP) to connect the phones without the user having to dial.

Calls between landlines that are both joined up to Jajah are free; calls to non-members are charged at a per-minute rate rate, similar to those made using Skype.

Mr Scharf said the partnership was Intel was a natural one because in the long term, he saw all computers having a jack which would allow the user to connect any phone and make a call over the internet, and the chip company’s relations with hardware suppliers would help the company achieve this.

Asked how Jajah would make money when calls didn’t cost, Mr Scharfe said: “The point is by that time, we’ll own users. We’re building a huge community, and once it’s 50 million strong, you can monetize the service in other ways,” without elaborating further.

Analysts were sceptical about the Jajah’s prospects, saying that providers of VOIP services were being forced to drop their rates amid competiton from existing players such as BT, and that the company’s business model – making money from voice calls – was unsustainable given that such calls would increasingly be sold as part of a bundle of services, including broadband and TV.

“There are also quality issues; the sound isn’t that great, plus in Jajah’s case you’ve got the problem of the signal having to convert at both ends – from the phone line to IP and back again – which adds an extra delay,” Steve Blood, an analyst with Gartner said.

Ben Wood, an analyst with CCS Insight, said: “Remember too that Jajah’s key market so far – students – are having hundreds of free minutes thrown at them by the mobile operators so the appeal of a new service can be limited.”

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