Here is the official announcement:
(BSNS WIRE) Telefonica and US Carrier IDT to Establish and Jointly Devel
Telefonica and US Carrier IDT to Establish and Jointly Develop and Market
Products and Services for the U.S. Hispanic Market
Business/Technology Editors
MADRID, Spain & HACKENSACK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 12,
1999--
IDT to Partner with Telefonica's SAm-1 Latin American Submarine
Cable System
Antonio Viana, CEO of Telefonica Internacional (TISA), the
largest private investor in the Latin American telecommunications
market, and Howard Jonas, Chairman & CEO of IDT Corporation (NASDAQ:
IDTC), one of the premier US telecom operators, signed an agreement in
New York on August 11th to enter into several key strategic agreements
and relationships.
Under these relationships, New Jersey-based IDT plans to acquire
a 10% equity interest in Telefonica's SAm-I Latin American submarine
cable project. SAm-I is Latin America's largest and first state of the
art backbone to support high capacity connectivity for voice and
Internet traffic. It is based on a fully restored self-healing fiber
optic ring around Latin America with connections in Brazil, Argentina,
Chile, Peru, Colombia, Central America, the Caribbean, and the USA.
The system is scheduled to become operational in various phases during
2000 and 2001. The systems capacity will reach 1.28 terabits per
second. The investment for the project is greater than $1.5 billion.
Additionally, IDT plans to purchase a minimum of $100 million in
cable capacity. The acquisition of this capacity is intended to
enhance the capacity of IDT's newly formed fiber optic subsidiary and
to help meet IDT's increasing demand for bandwidth between the United
States and Latin America.
The agreement also provides for the creation of a newly formed
joint venture (JV) between the companies. The JV, to be managed by
Telefonica, will be created to exclusively market products and
services developed by the JV. The joint objective is to position the
JV as the leading provider of telecommunications services to the
Hispanic market in the U.S and certain related markets in Latin
America. The fast growing U.S Hispanic market, comprised of over 30
million people, will be the beneficiary of both companies' highly
recognized product offerings and distribution channels.
IDT will schedule a conference call with investors to discuss the
strategic rationale and significance of the agreements in greater
detail.
About the Companies
Telefonica is the leading telecom operator in the Spanish and
Portuguese speaking world. In Latin America, Telefonica has a presence
in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, El Salvador,
Guatemala, and Puerto Rico. Its customer base includes more than 55
million customers, more than half are in Latin America.
IDT is a leading emerging multinational carrier that combines its
position as an international telecommunications operator, its
experience as an Internet service provider and its leading position in
Internet telephony to provide a broad range of telecommunications
services to its wholesale and retail customers worldwide. The Company
provides its customers with integrated and competitively priced
international and domestic long distance, prepaid calling cards, and
Internet access.
Except for historical information, all of the expectations and
assumptions contained in the foregoing are forward-looking statements
involving risks and uncertainties. These statements refer to our plans
to implement our growth strategy, improve our financial performance,
expand our infrastructure, develop new products and services, expand
our customer base and enter international markets. The forward looking
statements also include our expectations concerning factors affecting
the markets for our products, including the demand for long distance
telecommunications, and Internet access services. These forward
looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could
cause actual results to differ materially from the results that we
anticipate. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited
to, those risks discussed in this release. In addition to the factors
specifically noted in the forward looking statements, other important
factors that could result in those differences include (a) general
economic conditions in the telecommunications and Internet markets,
including inflation, recession, interest rates, and other economic
factors; (b) casualty to or other disruption of our facilities and
operations; and (c) other factors that generally affect the business
of telecommunications, Internet and other communications companies. We
assume no obligation to update these forward looking statements or to
update the reasons actual results could differ materially from the
results anticipated in the forward looking statements.
--30--flb/ny*
CONTACT: IDT Public Relations
Larry Weisman
201/928-4452
or
IDT Finance
David Brainson
201/928-4363
KEYWORD: NEW JERSEY INTERNATIONAL EUROPE LATIN AMERICA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS COMED
INTERACTIVE/MULTIMEDIA/INTERNET
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