O2, the mobile division of Spanish telecommunication company Telefónica, confirmed today that it's acquiring Israel-based Internet phone company Jajah for 145 million euros (that's $207 million).
The move reflects the growing interest in VoIP technology on the part of the big telecom and tech companies. In November, TechCrunch and Israeli financial news site TheMarker reported that O2 was bidding for Jajah against Cisco and Microsoft, and it reported this weekend that O2 had won the bidding war. (At the time, an O2 press representative told us the reports were "entirely speculation.")
Telefónica isn't the only telecom company interested in VoIP startups. Last year, BT acquired Ribbit, which dubbed itself "Silicon Valley's first phone company."
Jajah says it has around 15 million subscribers. It launched at DEMO, the technology conference co-produced by VentureBeat, and raised $35 million from Sequoia Capital, Deutsche Telekom, Intel Capital, and others.