Internet telephony is the way of the future, everybody knows by now. And, currently, competition among VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) providers, the companies who use the Internet for relaying phone calls, is heating up.

Israeli-Austrian VoIP startup Jajah is lowering its rates from Israel to 16 agorot a minute. "Israel was always a central market for us, and now it is also one of the fastest-growing markets around," said Roman Scharf, one of Jajah's cofounders. Scharf is an Austrian entrepreneur who founded the company in 2005, along with Daniel Mattes.

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Jajah has also included Israel on its list of countries in which one can make free phone calls through Jajah, if the conversation is between two registered users of the service. Previously, the price was dozens of agorot per minute and varied between call destinations.

In contrast to Skype, Jajah's service is possible without needing ear phones, a microphone or a computer-connected telephone. After entering the desired phone numbers on the company's Web site, Jajah connects users' call so that the conversations are between conventional phones.

In a conversation with TheMarker, the cofounders said recently that they created a partnership with another Israeli company, SmartLink to supply free or extremely low cost VoIP calls through standard telephone lines. Through the partnership, Jajah developed a archetype service that allows conducting calls on telephone lines without using the Internet site.

Jajah now has over a million users who have registered to its Internet site. Venture capital funds and private investors have put down to date $8.5 million in Jajah. The company has a small research and development center in Israel that employs five workers.