Oliver Gassner: Hi, could you please introduce yourself to our readers? Where you come from, what you did before Rebtel.com [link] and what your job at Rebtel is.
Hjalmar Winbladh: My name is Hjalmar Winbladh I´m one of the founders and the CEO at www.rebtel.com and I´m a serial entrepreneur from Sweden, My last venture was Sendit that pioneered Mobile Internet Services via Mobile operators already back in 1994/95, Took the company public in 1997 and it was later acquired by Microsoft in 1999 where I headed up MS Mobile Internet efforts until 2001

Oliver Gassner: Working for Google has a certain coolness to it. How was working at Microsoft?
Hjalmar Winbladh: I came in when the company did a major overhaul changing vision from a PC on every desk and home to empower people with great software and Services anywhere on any device... Was really a major learning experience to be part of that strategy change meeting Bill and Steve on regular basis.
Oliver Gassner: Why did you leave there, I mean Ballmer will not live forever, will he?
Hjalmar Winbladh: Entrepreneurship is part of my genes and two years of employment was enough... I really enjoy starting companies based on disruptive opportunities and challenge the incumbents.

Oliver Gassner: How come you went back be founding after a long break and after being an investor. Isn't that untypical?
Hjalmar Winbladh: I think that customers has overpaid for Mobile services and been locked away from potential innovative new services by the Mobile operator cartels in the world. Someone need to challenge this cartels and pass on the massive savings and innovation that Internet brings us in the fixed world. It is a big task that need some serious backing...

Oliver Gassner: We'll come to Rebtel in a minute.- I read you sailed the Pacific for quite some time. Can you tell us about that?
Hjalmar Winbladh: Yes, My wife and I decided to take a break and explore the Pacific with our kids. A dream that we had for a while, being together without any obligations with our kids and just explore this part of the world from our sailing boat. The best (ad)venture i ever done :-)

Oliver Gassner: How long did you do that?
Hjalmar Winbladh: Almost 3 years with breaks for the hurricane seasons.

Oliver Gassner: OK, let's look at Rebtel: What does it do for us?
Hjalmar Winbladh: Rebtel´s first service lets you call to your friends and family living abroad for free or very cheap from you standard mobile phone without any downloads or change of local mobile operator, We help you to get the most out of your existing phone and calling plan. The service is now launched in 38 countries and this is is just the start....

Oliver Gassner: How many people work on your team?
Hjalmar Winbladh: We are currently 30 people and hope to always have less people then countries we are active in :-)

Oliver Gassner: Your management team seems pretty Scandinavian. Wouldn't a more international team be better if you are offering your service in so many countries?
Hjalmar Winbladh: We are currently expanding our management team and will have our Sales, marketing and biz dev in London from January next year.

Oliver Gassner: So if I understand correctly, Rebtel makes the phone connection via IP and both sides only pay local fees, right? And I pay a monthly fee of 1$ for each week I use Rebtel to call out.
Hjalmar Winbladh: That's right, We connect your local call with your friends local call over Internet for free. No per minute charge. The first month is free and then you pay a US dollar per week but only the weeks you use ther service. No downloads or need for a new mobile.

Oliver Gassner: Does the person called pay local fees or just me?
Hjalmar Winbladh: Both are paying for local calls, however more and more mobile plans have flat-fees or big "bucket"-plans with thousands of local inclusive minutes. The mobile operators are keen to defend a high ARPU (average revenue per user) and drive the usage up (Fixed to Mobile Convergence) especially in mature markets with at least some competitions. The same change as when we are moving from dial-up internet to broadband flat fees.

Oliver Gassner: There are quite some services like Rebtel around. Like Skype for mobiles, Cellity, Jajah, Talkety and others. Why should everyone use Rebtel? Or is Rebtel not for everyone?
Hjalmar Winbladh: Skype was leveraging you investment and Braodband conntection for free or very cheap international calls but you are stuck to the PC and a headset. Rebtel does the same but with your mobile and "Bucket"-plan, A much nicer way to make your calls ;-) I think T-mobile jsut launched a plan in Germany that lets you call for free to fixed nr in Germany (and allr T-Mobile nr) for 25 Euro/month. This is happening in most countries right now. I have a plan with 8000 local minutes here in Sweden fro 59.99

Oliver Gassner: There are Skype apps for mobiles, though.
Hjalmar Winbladh: With Rebtel, you dont need a client on you phone, hence it works with all phones and you just dial from your address book as you always have done, works from ALL phones, you don't need to buy a new phone for several 100s of Euros to save some money on international calls...

Oliver Gassner: Will the telcos care and react to what you do? If yes: how? Offer more flatrates? Offer data-plans? Offer Cheap smartphones? Offer cheaper international calls?
Hjalmar Winbladh: I think they realize that it is a sea change, not just Rebtel out there, When everything goes IP = internet, then the business models will change to Internet based models. Hence a clear segmentation between access and services. Voice is just anohter service and very generic hence Global not local...

Oliver Gassner: If we all have UMTS-flatrates or even free wifi-access on our phones, won't services like Rebtel be redundant then?
Hjalmar Winbladh: That will take time, We believe that you need to be able to bridge the "old" with the "new" Rebtels backbone is VOIP and as long we have 2 billion mobiles out there and just a couple of thousend VOIP/WiFi devices you need to be able to convert people seamlessly over this to new technolgies hence you don´t need to wait to reap the benifits of VOIP.

Oliver Gassner: Maybe this is a silly question: Could I use Rebtel for landline calls, too? Or will those be cheaper otherwise?
Hjalmar Winbladh: You can use Rebtel for landline call too but it is optimized for use from your Mobile
Oliver Gassner: What does that mean: optimized?
Oliver Gassner: Will I still save money on landline calls? I guess so, right?
Hjalmar Winbladh: You create a new number and get it to your mobile over SMS to be stored in your adr-book further it really easy to do the "call-back" from a Mobile, just dial the last nr you recieved etc...

Oliver Gassner: OK. And I can generate that nummer also online and use my landline. Got it.
Hjalmar Winbladh: You don't call places any more, you call people. the reason you call to fixed phones are usally price, with bucketplans and Rebtel, price is not the issue any more...

Oliver Gassner: Oh, sometimes my mobile is at my desk while I am downstairs. ;) - Do the telcos need the money they make with international calls? Will Rebtel ruin them?
Hjalmar Winbladh: My view is that I believe share with most people in the industry is: That the Telecom world is going IP, IP=internet and internet has another set of business models compared to old POTS services and Incumbant Telcos. Hence; either you are in the access business or in the services business Voice over IP is a generic Service not access. The telcos will first make "big buckets of local minutes" i.e. almost flat fees for voice and then later move to IP-access flat rates. do defend their ARPU´s We will bridge these trans,sisson by bridgeing Numbers with SIP. Hjalmar Winbladh: Rebtel is poised to become a global net-neutral Mobile Service provider. With a global approach to Mobile communication services.

Oliver Gassner: Will you ever need financing? I mean you got quite a lot of cash (150 Million USD) from Microsoft for "Sendit".
We raised 20 Million USD from Benchmark and Index a couple a months ago, mostly to get their competence and network behind Rebtel.

Oliver Gassner: I'd imagine that managing 150 M$ is a full-time job of it's own. How do you invest all that? Or does somebody do that for you?
Hjalmar Winbladh: Sendit was a public company when it was acquired by MSFT, I did not own all of it ;-)

Oliver Gassner: OK, we'll leave it at that ;) - What phone do you use and why?
Hjalmar Winbladh: I have 5 different phones right now Most of them Sony Ericsson because I know the guys there very well and they usually throw a new model my way every now and then... using a Nokia N80 as well using the integrated SIP function combined with REBTEL really cool. no roaming costs when traveling.

Oliver Gassner: 5 phones? OK, if they are all one brand or two you only have 2 chargers to carry ;). But why 5?
Hjalmar Winbladh: Testing purposes i usually only have 2-3 with me...

Oliver Gassner: You are from Sweden, right? What is the state of mobile usage compared to the US or Germany there?
Hjalmar Winbladh: 100% pentration and a ongoing price war for local minutes. I have 8000 local min/m in my plan for 59.99 but you can get 3000 for 39.99 today you def dont need 8000 impossible to use all.

Oliver Gassner: I'd actually perfer cheap dataplans ;) Talking to people is so 2006 ;) - Google is buying mobile services right now. What do you think are they planning?
Hjalmar Winbladh: I started with Mobile internet back in 1994, just tired of the rip offs. so many open WiFi networks all over that´s "free". Not sure what I need an expensive Dataplan for Vocie/SMS works fine in between WiFi spots. hence it is less the 10% of your time you spend outside WiFi coverage in average. Very few data services needs realtime handover.

Oliver Gassner: Well, free WiFi is not so common in Germany (or in German trains).
Hjalmar Winbladh: It will come more and more esp when most phones will have built in WiFi next year. I usually don't stay in a hotel who doesn't offer free/open WiFi. Then i can cut my roaming cost to zero and spend that 100+ Euro/day on a nicer room. open WiFi for hotels /Coffee shops will be as common as offering its customers bathroom / clean sheets and warm water... - I was in Germany for a month ago and you find a lot of open WiFi´s. With a WiFi sniffer in your phone you will find more networks then you think.- Not sure what google does, but I don't believe that they will become a MVNO buying access from Vodafone...

Oliver Gassner: So they will rather buy Vodafone?
Hjalmar Winbladh: Why should the buy a legacy incumbent with a massive cost structure?

Oliver Gassner: What is going to be the future of mobiles? Are they going to get smaller, so that they vanish in headsets (or in our skulls?) or bigger and everybody will carry a smart-phone and we are going to trash our laptops?
Hjalmar Winbladh: No size fits all.

Oliver Gassner: Wise answer ;) - Final Question: If a start-up entrepreneur came up to you and asked you for advice. What would you say?
Hjalmar Winbladh: You will see as many form factors as you will find applications and services...
Hjalmar Winbladh: Don't do it, it will kill you... ;-) - No, make sure to hire/co-found a very senior team that share you vision and passion, go for quality not quantity when it comes to hiring. Make sure that you keep your business focused and go for a global opportunity where you can challenge an old and non-innovative business segment with a disruptive approach, the business model is as important as the technology.
Oliver Gassner: Thanks for the interview, your time and: Survive ;)
Hjalmar Winbladh: you are welcome

MVNO: mobile virtual network operator

ARPU : average revenue per user