[img src="" caption="" credit="" alt=""]Jaxtr is unveiling premium memberships this evening, making it easier for users of the web-based VoIP service to make long distance and international calls. The service – which includes widgets that users can put on their social networking profiles to enable friends to call them – previously employed a credits system, requiring users to reload their account each time it emptied.
While the credit system isn’t disappearing, the new premium memberships will offer most users a better value according to CEO Konstantin Guericke. In an interview last week, Guericke noted that “in exchange for users committing to us, they will get rates that are 20-30% lower than buying calling credits a la carte.”
In turn, Jaxtr gets more predictable subscriber revenue, which it projects will make the company profitable in the second half of 2009. Jaxtr currently claims more than 10 million members, and also generates revenue through advertising via its Café Jaxtr social networking product.
Overall, Jaxtr is emerging as one of the better positioned companies in the social networking space amidst the current economic slowdown. The hybrid business model of subscriptions and ads is akin to that of LinkedIn – where Guericke was a co-founder – and provides Jaxtr with flexibility should advertising revenue slow down significantly. Meanwhile, the service saves customers money through its low cost international calling – something more and more businesses will be looking to do as budgets get trimmed.