News: Winstar Wins $98 Million Contract
Monday October 18, 5:56 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Winstar Wins $98 Million Contract to Provide Broadband Package to Cignal Global Communications
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 18, 1999--WINSTAR COMMUNICATIONS, INC., (NASDAQ: WCII - news) today announced that it has been awarded a multi-year $98 million contract from Cignal Global Communications, Inc., an enhanced service provider offering a wide range of global value-added services.
Winstar is providing Cignal with a complete communications package that includes local and intercity end-to-end broadband capacity; high-speed Internet access; network design and equipment; and Web hosting. Cignal will utilize this combination of services as a platform to rapidly build enhanced IP (Internet Protocol) and ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) services for its customers.
Additionally, Winstar and Cignal will jointly develop next-generation media distribution services for Web content players and ISPs (Internet Service Providers) on a global basis. Planned services will feature the ubiquity and functionality of IP with the manageability and QoS (Quality of Service) of ATM as well as advanced IP protocols. High quality IP video and IP services - similar to the basic, premium and pay-per-view levels offered by cable operators - will generate new, high-margin revenue streams for Winstar and Cignal, as well as their Web hosting customers and their ISP partners.
By leveraging its unique assets - a ``national-local' end-to-end broadband network, a leading Tier 1 Internet backbone and a wide range of data and Internet services - Winstar is fast becoming a leader in providing Internet infrastructure for high-tech companies with complex networking needs. As a result, in the past six months Winstar has been awarded numerous contracts from such companies as VoCall Communications, MindSpring and AboveNet.
``This is yet another in a series of multi-year large account transactions that fully utilize our network assets, thereby increasing revenue and yielding very high gross margins,' said Winstar chairman and CEO William J. Rouhana, Jr. ``This, in turn, helps us expand the amount of traffic on our network and spread the fixed costs associated with building our broadband network over a larger base.'
``Winstar's local provisioning ability and end-to-end connectivity accelerate our business plan to build an advanced global network quickly and enter new markets aggressively,' said Cignal CEO Chris Rooney. ``We are excited to be jointly developing next-generation enhanced services based on Cignal's cutting-edge integrated voice and data technology and Winstar's extensive network.'
Cambridge, MA USA-based Cignal is an advanced global data carrier providing toll-quality packetized voice, traditional data and Internet connectivity, and a set of real-time value-added Internet services. Cignal's target customers include carriers, Internet Service and Application Providers (ISPs and IASPs), and Web content providers in the Americas, Europe and Asia. Cignal is expanding its facilities-based telecommunications network from the 13 countries it currently has in service to 26 by year-end 2000, giving it access to over 85 percent of worldwide communications traffic. Cignal is one of the first international carriers to integrate carrier grade voice, data and Internet services over a single network and guarantee Quality of Service levels using a combination of Internet Protocol (IP), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) and its patented voice/data integration process. Its worldwide Web address is cignal.com. |
