AT&T Canada expands relationship with Canada Payphone
AT&T Canada, Canada Payphone's Primary Wholesale Supplier of Local and
Long Distance Services, Makes Equity Investment in Canada Payphone
CDNX Symbol: CPY
BURNABY, BC, Feb. 29 /CNW/ - Canada Payphone Corporation (CDNX:CPY),
today announced that AT&T Canada (TSE: TEL.B, NASDAQ: ATTC), Canada's leading
facilities-based competitive provider of local and long distance voice, data
and Internet communications services, will make a $5 Million equity investment
in Canada Payphone Corporation to purchase approximately 19% of the
outstanding shares of the company.
Canada Payphone is Canada's leading national competitive pay telephone
service provider in the recently deregulated Canadian pay telephone market and
is marketing and installing AT&T Canada branded payphones and public Internet
terminals across the country. Through the recent execution of a series of
significant initiatives, Canada Payphone has emerged as one of the
cutting-edge trendsetters in the industry. Canada Payphone recently unveiled
the Grapevine(TM) Network Terminal supported by e-Prism software that provides
content delivery, and transaction reporting and management, with the
capability of simultaneously managing the Grapevine(TM) and Canada Payphone's
existing and new payphones. With the Grapevine(TM) Network Terminal and
e-Prism software, advertising content and community information is
intelligently targeted to user communities on a terminal by terminal basis.
``We are excited that AT&T Canada has chosen to deepen its relationship
and support of Canada Payphone' said Bruce Clark, President and CEO, Canada
Payphone Corporation. ``AT&T Canada's confidence in Canada Payphone's ability
to rapidly deliver Canada's best public access communications network is a
powerful indicator of the significant opportunity for our business. It also
demonstrates our continued confidence in AT&T Canada's ability to rapidly
provide quality local voice and Internet access in cities across Canada for
our quickly growing number of payphone locations. Our rapidly expanding
network and products are answering Canadian consumers' growing need for
competitive public location access to traditional telecommunications services
and the Internet.'
``Canada Payphone has been a valuable and growing customer of AT&T
Canada, and we see strong growth for their business in Canada's newly
deregulated public access market, in which we look forward to participating
both as their underlying wholesale provider and now, as an equity investor,'
said Craig Young, AT&T Canada's President and Vice Chairman. ``Not only have
we been impressed with their leading edge technology and aggressive execution
in creating a first mover advantage around this new opportunity in Canada, we
will also continue to benefit from the highly visible display of the AT&T
Canada brand on their growing base of thousands of payphones in public
locations across Canada.'
AT&T Canada is Canada's largest facilities-based competitive provider of
local and long distance voice, data and Internet telecommunications services.
Created during 1999 from the merger of MetroNet Communications, AT&T Canada
Long Distance Services, Netcom Canada and ACC TelEnterprises, AT&T Canada
brings together the country's largest competitive local exchange carrier
(CLEC), three of Canada's leading competitive Internet Service Providers
(ISP), and Canada's pioneer in competitive long distance. AT&T Canada Inc. is
a public company with its common stock traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange
under the symbol TEL.B and on the NASDAQ National Market System under the
symbol ATTC. Visit AT&T Canada's web site, www.attcanada.com for more
information about the company.
Canada Payphone is Canada's leading national competitive payphone service
provider. The Company provides services from Victoria to Halifax installing
state-of-the-art AT&T Canada branded payphones, Grapevine(TM) Network
Terminals and Interactive Internet Kiosks. Canada Payphone Corporation is a
public company traded on the CDNX under the symbol ``CPY'. For more
information, visit Canada Payphone's web site at www.canadapayphone.com.
Note for Investors: This news release includes statements about expected
future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and
subject to risks and uncertainties. For those statements, we claim the
protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements provisions
contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The
company cautions that actual performance will be affected by a number of
factors, many of which are beyond the company's control, and that future
events and results may vary substantially from what the company currently
foresees. Discussion of the various factors that may affect future results is
contained in the company's recent filings with Canadian securities regulators
and SEDAR.
THE CDNX HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE
ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.
For further information: Stephen Niven, Executive Vice President, Canada
Payphone Corporation (604) 257-3355; Ian Dale, VP Corp. Communications, AT&T
Canada (416) 204-2773 |
