Telecommunications pacesetter, Vonex, has been rewarded for its technology innovation, this week banking $630,000 in rebates from the Australian Government’s Research and Development Tax Incentive Program for eligible R&D activities conducted by the company.
This is more than double the amount that the ASX-listed company received in the 2017-18 financial year and the refund is in respect to various activities across the company’s portfolio of cutting-edge business telco solutions, including the Oper8tor App, Sign on Glass and AMPT Software.
Following receipt of the R&D tax refund, the company was in a strong cash position with cash and cash equivalents of $2.84 million as at 25 October 2019.
Vonex Managing Director Matt Fahey said: “Vonex has a long and successful history in the area of R&D works within the telecommunications industry and the company will continue to invest in these projects into the future.”
“The R&D tax rebate bolsters our financial position while we work our way through several developments, chief among them our highly anticipated Oper8tor aggregated communications platform.”
The company has gone from strength to strength since listing on the ASX in June last year and is now on track for a 30% increase in new customer sales year-on-year in the current September quarter, according to management.
Vonex has already seen revenues jump 11.4% year-on-year to $2.35 million for the quarter ended 30 June 2019 while new customer sales increased by 38% year-on-year for the same quarter.
Sales growth is forecast to accelerate throughout the 2020 financial year due to an ongoing national marketing campaign, the automation of many aspects of the sales ordering process and the management and recruitment of sales personnel, the company said this week.
Management pointed to its social media engagements to make the point that its brand awareness is on the rise with page likes increased by more than 400% on the typical monthly average on news of the launch of its strategic partnership with Qantas Business Rewards revealed in August.
Additionally, the company’s social media posts in the 2019 financial year averaged about 6,600 views per post, up 471% from the previous financial year.
The Qantas Business Rewards partnership has no doubt contributed to Vonex’s newfound brand awareness with the company now counting 34,000 registered users for its core, PABX telephony business, which replaces the old wall-mounted telephone exchange unit with a cloud-based solution.
Commenting on the rise in registered users, Mr Fahey said: “It is particularly pleasing to see sophisticated customers of our wholesale business unit choosing Vonex's platform over other options for their customers.”
Vonex has spread its wings into a full-service, telecommunications provider, selling mobile, internet, traditional fixed lines and cloud-hosted PBX and VoIP services - predominately to the small to medium enterprise market under its own branding.
It also provides wholesale customers, such as internet service providers, access to its core Vonex PBX and call-termination services at wholesale rates via a “white-label” model, that utilises the customers’ own branding.
Vonex is also developing the exciting Oper8tor App, a multi-platform real-time voice, messaging and social media app that allows users to connect with all social media friends, followers and contacts across different social media platforms, all consolidated into a single internet-hosted application.
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