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Thanks. Wow! you don't think she'd hype his picks?
Btw
I wonder if Maria talks in her sleep,and when she's on the potty.
Bob, what do you think of these results? My average cost is about 12, and I'm thinking of buying more.
>ZURICH, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 2000--
Solid Revenue Growth Continues as EBITDA Loss Narrows
Local Fibre Construction in Amsterdam, Paris, Rotterdam and Milan
Significant Pan-European Service Offerings Launched
Carrier1 International S.A. (Nasdaq: CONE; Neuer Markt: CJN), a rapidly expanding pan-European facilities-based provider of Internet, voice, bandwidth, data centre and access solutions, today reported its results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2000.
First Quarter Financial Results
Revenues for the first quarter totalled $51.3 million, a 37% sequential increase over the fourth quarter 1999 and more than quadruple the $12.3 million in revenues reported for the comparable year-ago quarter. The Company's EBITDA loss for the first quarter narrowed to $10.9 million and improved to 21% of revenues. This compares favourably with the EBITDA loss of $12.3 million, or 33% of revenues incurred in the prior quarter. In the same period last year, Carrier1's EBITDA loss was $8 million, or 65% percent of revenues.
"We made substantial progress in accelerating Carrier1's business in the first quarter of 2000," said Stig Johansson, Carrier1's President and CEO. "During the period, we continued to rapidly grow our revenue and customer base across all of our services while at the same time undertaking several important initiatives which set the stage for substantial long term growth. Since January 1, we have launched new product platforms, including our European Virtual ISP platform and our Universal International Freephone service; we extended our fibre local loop builds into additional major markets in Europe; and we finalised our investment and pan-European co-location facilities relationship with Digiplex S.A. (formerly Hubco S.A.)."
On March 1, 2000, the Company completed its Initial Public Offering, dual-listing Carrier1 shares on the NASDAQ and the Neuer Markt.
Mr. Johansson noted, "The $710 million net proceeds raised through our IPO fully funds our business plan and will enable Carrier1 to take advantage of opportunities to continue to aggressively grow our business."
First Quarter Operating Results
Internet / Bandwidth and Infrastructure Services
In the first quarter the number of contracts with IP customers and bandwidth customers on the network increased from 70 as of December 31, 1999 to 110 as of March 31, 2000. There are currently 204 customers and peering partners connected to the Carrier1 backbone in ten countries, with Carrier1 present at ten European Internet exchanges in Europe, as well as MAE-East in the U.S., which provides Carrier1's expanding customer base with European industry-leading Internet connectivity.
Carrier1 has continued to implement and expand its existing offering of enabling technologies in order to optimise backbone connectivity and performance, offer unique content to its customers and their respective end users and provide for additional security features for both access and transport services to and across the Carrier1 network. These technologies will facilitate content delivery, e-commerce and data mining.
During the first quarter, Carrier1 launched its Virtual ISP (VISP) product which will support wholesale Internet dial-up services on a pan-European basis and which complements Carrier1's robust portfolio of Internet dedicated connectivity services. The VISP platform provides ISPs, Internet portals, E-Commerce sites, telecom carriers and others with a turn-key solution enabling these types of customers to roll out Internet services across Europe with minimal infrastructure investment and maximum speed.
Also during the first quarter, Carrier1 and StarOne AG, a German broadband operator, jointly announced a long-term, $71.5 million 20-year agreement in which Star One is purchasing two fibre strands from Carrier1 throughout Germany. "Our contract with Star One reinforces Carrier1's position as a leading provider of European fibre infrastructure and further reduces the embedded costs of our German fibre optic network. This contract also defrays a portion of the costs of extending our network to Hannover, Bielefeld and Magdeburg, the only major German cities not connected to our initial German infrastructure build," said Mr. Johansson.
Voice and Access Services
During the first quarter, Carrier1 handled 309 million minutes of international voice traffic on its network, a 30% increase over the voice traffic handled in the fourth quarter and a 399% increase over the volumes handled in the year-ago quarter. The run rate as of the end of March amounted to an annualised 1.4 billion minutes, the overwhelming part originating in Europe. The number of contracts with voice and access customers increased significantly from 259 at December 31, 1999 to 310 as of March 31, 2000.
Carrier1 launched its newest access service during the quarter, the pan-European Universal International Freephone service (UIFN). The UIFN service will be rolled out across Europe during 2000, with the first phase initiated in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in April. UIFN complements Carrier1's VISP product as well as existing enhanced voice services in order to provide the simplest possible access to the Carrier1 network: one single 00800 number which works across national boundaries.
Local Loop Fibre Network Deployment
During the first quarter, Carrier1 commenced construction of its previously-announced Amsterdam local loop fibre network. This network, once completed and after giving effect to an agreed upon duct swap to further extend its reach, will cover a total of 114 kilometres and connect major telecommunications points-of-presence in Amsterdam.
Carrier1 also announced during the first quarter the construction of a 32-kilometre, high fibre count network in Paris, which is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2000. More recently, Carrier1 has agreed to construct a multi-duct fibre network in Milan covering 100 kilometres as well as a multi-duct fibre optic network in Rotterdam covering 40 kilometres. All of these projects will connect the major telecommunications points-of-presence in their respective metropolitan markets and all are being constructed on a highly capital efficient basis, frequently as joint builds with multiple parties.
Carrier1 anticipates adding between 10 and 15 additional city rings in selected major markets in Europe during 2000 and 2001.
"The opportunity for us to cost-effectively extend our pan-European fibre optic network into local loops in major European cities dramatically increases the value of our network, enabling us to offer a greater portion of our bandwidth services to our customers on an on-net basis, while at the same time reducing some of the need for expensive leased lines from the PTTs and the small number of alternative city carriers," said Mr. Johansson. "Having a greater percentage of our traffic on our own network lowers our unit costs, improves our service delivery times and quality, and increases the addressable market for our services."
Long Haul Fibre Network Deployment
Carrier1's joint fibre build in Germany with Viatel and Metromedia Fibre Networks is now substantially completed. Carrier1's German network is a wholly-owned and operated 2,400-route kilometre high-capacity, self-healing broadband fibre ring connecting 14 principal cities in Germany. Carrier1 expects this German network to be lit and ready for service in the second quarter of 2000. Carrier1's 600 kilometre extension to Hannover is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2000.
Carrier1 has revised the terms of its previously-announced swap into France, which was executed during the third quarter 1999. In the first stage of this revised swap, Carrier1 and the French company have determined during 2000 to swap two strands of dark fibre on Carrier1's German ring for two strands of dark fibre of comparable route length in France, reflecting each party's estimated needs during 2000. In addition, the parties are discussing the potential swap or mutual sale of local loop fibre and co-location facilities in certain cities in France in which Carrier1 is not present for comparable local loop fibre and co-location facilities in certain European cities presently being built by Carrier1. The parties also have agreed to make incremental long haul capacity available to each other on commercial terms.
"We continue to aggressively pursue swaps, joint builds and other capital efficient approaches to further extend our network's geographic reach and to increase fibre capacity in our existing markets in Europe," said Mr. Johansson. "Through this approach, Carrier1 has developed a 9,100 route kilometre, world class, state-of-the-art pan-European fibre optic network for a small fraction of the capital spent by many of our competitors. This capital-efficiency will enable Carrier1 to have one of the lowest cost networks in Europe, which we expect will enable us to price our services competitively while still enjoying attractive margins over the long term," Mr. Johansson continued.
Digiplex S.A. Joint Venture
During the first quarter, Carrier1 finalised its investment and pan-European co-location facilities relationship with Digiplex S.A. (formerly Hubco S.A.). Digiplex is in the process of building very large scale telecommunications co-location facilities in major markets in Europe. Carrier1 has committed $23.3 million to a $155 million equity financing for this project, to be funded during the first half of 2000, to develop full-service data centres providing bandwidth-intensive Internet and telecom customers with state-of-the-art conditioned and managed co-location services. Other partners in the venture are U.S.-based private equity investors Providence Equity Partners and the Carlyle Group, as well as European network operator iaxis BV. Carrier1 and iaxis also will serve as strategic anchor tenants in these facilities, which will be connected to Carrier1's local and long haul networks.
Digiplex intends to build 22 facilities ranging in size from 100,000 to 550,000 square feet each (9,000 to 50,000 square meters each) in major markets in Europe during 2000 and 2001. These facilities are designed as single-use facilities which are engineered to provide the power, fibre connectivity, security, robust floor loading, high ceiling heights and related physical attributes required by Carrier1's telecom carrier and ISP customer base. Digiplex has already announced its facilities in Frankfurt, Oslo, and Geneva.
"Our local loop fibre networks and our pan-European data centre initiative through Digiplex together are enabling us to dramatically expand the number of high margin services we are able to deliver to fixed-line carrier, ISP and large corporate customers," said Mr. Johansson.
Interconnection Update
In the first quarter 2000, Carrier1 finalized the implementation of its interconnect agreement with France Telecom. Carrier1 now has interconnection agreements implemented with dominant operators in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Italy, France, The Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S. It is currently in the process of establishing interconnect agreements in Ireland, Finland, Norway and Spain which it expects to be operational this year. During the first quarter, Carrier1 also added a new direct link into Turkey and implemented bilateral agreements with several African PTTs, enabling Carrier1 to increase its quality and lower its termination costs to these traffic destinations.
Sales and Support Activities
Carrier1 continued to expand its sales and support offices and personnel throughout Europe to serve its expanding voice, bandwidth and Internet customer base. During the first quarter 2000, the company added Austria, Belgium, and Spain to its established sales and customer support offices in the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands and the U.S. Carrier1 is also selling its voice and data services in Denmark, Finland and Norway.
About Carrier1
Carrier1 International S.A. is a pan-European facilities-based provider of end-to-end Internet, voice, bandwidth, data centre, and access solutions. The company offers its services to competitive fixed line operators, wireless operators, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), resellers and multi-national corporations. Carrier1 provides its clients with carrier-grade transport and network solutions as well as end-user ready value added services. Carrier1 customers brand and market these solutions and services to their respective end-users.
The Carrier1 Pan European inter-city fibre network connects 11 countries and spans over 9,100 route kilometres. Carrier1 is fully operational in all 11 countries and has secured all the necessary interconnect and operational licenses that allow it to provide network solutions and end-user ready value added services. Carrier1 is also constructing 20 local loop fibre networks and, through its investment in the joint venture Digiplex S.A., is building 22 full-service data centre facilities.
Carrier1 headquarters are in Zurich, Switzerland. For further information, visit Carrier1's website at www.carrier1.com |
