Global TeleMedia International Announces Opening of 44th BentleyTel Satellite Tele-Center
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 3, 2000--
BentleyTel.com (Philippines) Announced 75% Growth in the First Quarter 2000 and Now Delivers Dominant or Exclusive Telecommunications and Enhanced Services in 44 Towns With a Combined Population of Around
1.3 Million People
Global TeleMedia International, Inc. (OTC: BB: GTMI) President, Jonathon Bentley-Stevens, announced today that GTMI subsidiary BentleyTel.com (Philippines) which had 100% annual growth over the last 3 years has already completed its first quarter 2000 roll-out of 11 more new V-Sat Bentley Tele-Centers in the Philippines, a growth of 75% in this period.
The roll-out brings the number of deployed Bentley Tele-Centers from twenty-six to forty-four. The 44th Tele-Center was opened nearly nine months ahead of schedule. These self-contained, air-conditioned Bentley Tele-Centers provide both local and long distance calling and are located in towns with populations from 10,000 to 50,000, which have either no telephone system or who are poorly serviced.
The Bentley Tele-Centers operate on a cash basis and offer local and direct long distance as well as 0+ International collect calling. As the only telephone service in most of these areas, the V-Sat Tele-Centers can also offer additional revenue generating services such as an ATM link to local banks, e-mail and Internet access, photocopying, scanning, and message delivery. The Tele-Centers have enhanced service revenue opportunities such as linking local schools to enable the students to communicate with other schools in the 44 BentleyTel serviced towns. They can also enable e-commerce via fees for downloads or orders for books and other educational material.
BentleyTel.com Philippines President, Soc Palabyab, said, "Our BentleyTel centers are the first step toward full service telecommunications and e-commerce solutions for these areas. Our strategy is to bring in basic communications services and then add enhanced services that are typically only available in major metropolitan areas.
Our next step is to install PCs with a trained operator in each Tele-Center to personally demonstrate Internet communications and the substantial e-commerce opportunities it brings to the individuals and to the community."
He continued, "We joined BentleyTel.com USA with only 26 Tele-Centers in November of last year and now have opened our 44th center almost 9 months ahead of schedule. We see our growth of 75% in the first quarter of 2000 as just the beginning. We have funded this accelerated growth from our internal revenue stream in order to maximize our advantage of connectivity under our international carrier contract with WorldxChange (http://www.worldxchange.com), which has opened up many additional services and revenue possibilities."
Mr. Palabyab added, "In my last visit to the USA, I noted that a major carrier had lowered its national long distance rate to 2 cents. BentleyTel, with exclusive service in most areas, presently receives $1.25 to terminate an international inbound call and a 30% commission plus 75 cents per call termination fee for domestic long distance."
He concluded, "The areas of operation are mostly rural and as the Philippines enjoys four crops per year, these areas are flush with cash from high crop rotation as is the mechanized support and transport industry. The Bentley Tele-Centers offer a chance to place orders, arrange commercial products and parts deliveries, and are generally seen as a boost to the efficiency of commerce and a true value to the community. Larger towns of 50,000+ serviced by only radio and local television are prime targets for entertainment through our partner MusicFormula.com. There is an ideal market for e-commerce opportunities such as MP3 music downloads and a multitude of music related products in general that are not available in those towns today."
BentleyTel.com COO, John Walsh, said of BentleyTel Philippines, "We have an exclusive area of operation where we can capitalize on a 1.3 million captive audience which today primarily operate on a cash basis, and bring them closer to both communications and e-commerce. We are positioned for phenomenal success. Our operators at the Tele-Centers will personally introduce consumers to the Internet and to the communications revolution. The people in these areas will now have the opportunity to see how easy it is to actually engage in e-commerce and to understand the tremendous value it brings to their businesses and lives. I am sure we will accelerate our growth into more areas and more countries."
He continued, "The Company has specifically targeted under-serviced areas where the cash economy can support explosive growth. With our BentleyTel SmartCards available in the USA by the end of the second quarter this year, and later in Australia, Malaysia and the Philippines, we will build product awareness and introduce the population to the tremendous opportunities made available by doing business on the web. We intend to build strong brand loyalty and establish a link with some of the 35 million ethnic US residents, most of whom support families overseas."
Mr. Walsh concluded, "The BentleyTel Tele-Centers and SmartCard are a powerful e-commerce tool. There will be a diminishing need for foreign expatriates residing in the US to send packages to their families, incurring air freight costs and delays, as well as possible duties and taxes. Instead they can affect an Internet E-transfer using their SmartCard and the local families can communicate and purchase products via the web with their own BentleyTel (Phils) SmartCard. Our BentleyTel Tele-Center roll-out strategy offers basic communications, Internet access and e-commerce with training. It is uniquely devised to provide immediate value to these people and their relatives and friends in their homelands, to build immediate customer and brand loyalty, and to ensure we attain our revenue and expansion goals."
Mr. Bentley-Stevens further stated, "At Global TeleMedia we have grown in one year from a staff of 10 to an international organization with 4 subsidiaries and approximately 414 employees, without adding debt to the Company. We are committed to developing new international markets, building international revenue and enhancing share value. We will establish Global TeleMedia and BentleyTel.com as a force in identifying and developing high margin revenue opportunities where we have market dominance with little or no competition."
Global TeleMedia International, Inc., located in Newport Beach, California, through its BentleyTel.com subsidiary, is a leading developer of interactive software for complex e-commerce solutions, multi-media and high speed Internet and wireless communication systems, including international & long distance Voice over IP, LAN VPN (Virtual Private Network), ISP, Virtual ISP, and PC-PC, PC-Phone transmission of data and voice. It also owns manufacturing and, telecom, ISP, and software development facilities in Australia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
This press release contains forward-looking statements. All such statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, the risks detailed in Global TeleMedia's filings and reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Such statements are only predictions and actual events or results may differ materially.
This release and prior releases are available on the KCSA Public Relations Worldwide Web site at www.kcsa.com.
CONTACT: KCSA CONTACT:
Robert Giordano / Daniel Stepanek
212/896-1289 / 1202
rgiordano@kcsa.com / dstepanek@kcsa.com
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