Ignatz, what phenomenal news. I am posting the whole story here for those too lazy to click.
cbs.marketwatch.com
NBC confirms Net2phone plan
PC phone service to be featured at Snap.com
Last Update: 6:44 PM ET Aug 8, 1999 Also: NewsWatch
NEW YORK (AP) -- NBC plans to prominently link and market Internet telephone services from Net2phone Inc. on the network's top Web sites, The Associated Press has learned.
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Updated:
8/8/99 6:08:54 PM ET
Net2Phone's personal-computer-to-phone service will be prominently positioned on the Snap.com Web site, where users can search yellow- and white-page phone listings and click to instantly dial any number, according to a news release. A copy of the announcement was obtained by The Associated Press on Sunday and confirmed by Snap.com officials. A formal announcement was planned for Monday.
Net2Phone (NTOP: news, msgs) would also have a link on the NBC.com and NBC Interactive Neighborhood sites.
In return, NBC, the broadcasting unit of General Electric (GE: news, msgs), and Snap.com would acquire an equity stake in Net2Phone, with NBC gaining the right to nominate a board member to Net2Phones board of directors. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Net2Phone Inc., based in Hackensack, N.J., successfully raised $81 million in an initial public offering of stock July 29. After an initial surge, the stock has drifted lower, closing Friday down 3/8 at 16 1/2, just a point and a half above the stock's initial offering price.
Using the service to place long-distance calls requires the Net2Phone caller to have a computer with speakers and a microphone and the company's free software available at its Web site.
Net2Phone charges just under 5 cents a minute for calls anywhere in the United States. Calls, while a call from anywhere in the U.S. to Argentina or Japan would be 42 cents and 17 cents a minute, respectively, according to rates posted on the company's Web site.
Snap.com, a joint venture between NBC and online media company CNet (CNET: news, msgs), is slated to be merged with NBC.com and other properties later this year to form NBC Internet.
"This agreement with Net2Phone will powerfully bridge NBC's Internet properties with the most ubiquitous consumer technology in the history of the world -- the telephone,'' said Martin J. Yudkovitz, president of NBC's interactive-media unit. |
