PRESS RELEASE: Ibasis, Telecom Argentina Connect Network
Dow Jones News Service ~ November 19, 2001 ~ 7:11 am EST
Telecom Argentina Connects to iBasis for VoIP;
iBasis Expands Global Reach for Major South American Carrier;
Strengthens iBasis Footprint in Second-Largest Latin American Market
BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 19, 2001--iBasis, Inc., (Nasdaq: IBAS), the leader in advanced Internet-based voice communications, today announced that Argentina's largest carrier, Telecom Argentina, has interconnected with The iBasis Network to expand its international service. With this interconnection, Telecom Argentina is able to route its international voice and fax traffic over iBasis' VoIP infrastructure, and iBasis is able to expand the volume of traffic it carries to and from Argentina, South America's second- largest market. 6 Telecom Argentina is the largest carrier in Argentina and offers a wide range of telecommunications services, including local, domestic, and international long-distance telephone services, the supply of fixed telecommunications links, data transmission and value added services. 6 "Our relationship with Telecom Argentina, one of Latin America's largest and most respected Tier 1 carriers, builds on our continuing success in attracting the world's largest carriers to our network," said Ofer Gneezy, president and CEO of iBasis. "In addition, this interconnection gives our network unmatched reach into one of the largest telecommunications markets in Latin America, enabling large carriers from major global markets in North America, Europe, and Asia, to more efficiently and reliably route voice traffic to this important commercial destination. Our continuing growth in Latin America has been a strong contributor to the growth and traffic we have seen over the past few weeks."
"In South America, iBasis has quickly emerged as a leader in VoIP, reliably carrying millions of Tier 1 international minutes every day over their global network," said Maximo Lema, Telecom's International Business Director. " Connecting to The iBasis Network enables us to reduce the operational and transport costs of providing Tier 1 international service - which offers great strategic advantage as we seek to expand our business in South America."
iBasis in Latin America
Many of the world's largest carriers route international voice traffic over the iBasis Network, which has more than 589 points of presence in more than 80 countries, using its efficient global footprint to provide high quality international service. In Latin America, iBasis has relationships with more than 35 carriers and carries large volumes of voice traffic between the US and Argentina, Chile, Mexico, and Peru. Through its extensive carrier relationships, iBasis has been able to grow its Latin American traffic by more than 123% and revenues by nearly 142% from Q3 2000 to Q3 2001. During that same period, iBasis realized 136% traffic growth and 97% revenue growth for its international voice service between the U.S. and Argentina and traffic growth of 164% and revenue growth of 107% for its service between the U.S. and Mexico. With this growth, iBasis estimates that it now carries more than 15% of all voice traffic from the U.S. to Argentina.(1)
iBasis and the Move to VoIP
iBasis handles millions of minutes of traditional carriers' ordinary international voice traffic every day on its global VoIP network. Outsourcing international traffic to iBasis offers service providers a powerful competitive advantage by lowering the cost of transport and reducing overall global infrastructure requirements. According to industry analyst firm Probe Research, VoIP transport is expected to account for approximately 9% of all international voice traffic in 2001, up from approximately 3% in 2000. As international voice traffic continues to grow, decreasing sales of traditional circuit-switching equipment and a predicted tripling of VoIP gateway equipment sales(2) over the next five years offers further evidence that the fundamental shift to VoIP is well underway.
About Telecom Argentina (Telecom S.A.)
Telecom S.A., (Telecom Argentina - - N.Y.S.E. symbol: TEO; Buenos Aires Stock Exchange symbol: TECO2), is one of the largest private sector corporations in Argentina, with 2000 net revenues of US$3.2 billion, net income of US$271 million. Telecom Argentina was formed as a result of the privatization of ENTel on November 8, 1990, and was previously a government-owned company in charge of the provision of the public telecommunication services in Argentina. Today, Telecom Argentina is licensed for an unlimited period of time to provide, with national coverage, Basic Telephone Services, which include the provision of local, domestic, and international long-distance telephone services, the supply of fixed telecommunications links, data transmission and value added services. Telecom operates the largest IP Backbone in Argentina. More information about Telecom Argentina can be found at www.telecom.com.ar.
About iBasis
Founded in 1996, iBasis (Nasdaq: IBAS) is the leader in advanced Internet- based voice communications. iBasis delivers toll quality international voice services and provides the infrastructure for hosted communications solutions, including messaging and speech-enabled content, e-commerce and customer service applications. The company's customers include many of the largest enterprises and carriers in the world, including AT&T, Cable & Wireless, China Mobile, China Unicom, Concert, ExxonMobil, Gannett, H&R Block, Home Shopping Network, Morgan Stanley, NTT, Telstra, Sabre Group, Sprint, Western Union, WorldCom, and Verizon. iBasis' hosted, enhanced service solutions include SpeechPort(TM), a scalable, customizable ASP environment for speech-enabled business solutions, VoCore(SM) messaging and the IP CallCard(TM) pre- and post-paid calling card platform. The iBasis Network is the world's largest international Cisco Powered Network for Internet Telephony. iBasis is listed in both the Russell 2000(R) and Russell 3000(R) Indexes. The company can be reached at its worldwide headquarters in Burlington, Mass., USA at +781-505-7500 or on the Internet at www.ibasis.net.
Assured Quality Routing and AQR are registered trademarks, VoCore is a service mark and iBasis, The iBasis Network, Internet Central Office, Internet Branch Office, IP CallCard, SpeechPort, IPort, and PriceInteractive are trademarks of iBasis, Inc. or its subsidiaries. Cisco and Cisco Powered Network are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Except for historical information, all of the expectations, projections and assumptions contained in the foregoing press release, including those relating to the company's current expectations regarding revenue growth, sources of revenue, margin improvement and future capital expenditures constitute forward- looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, (i) the extent of adoption of the company's voice-based Internet services and the timing and amount of revenue generated by these services; (ii) fluctuations in the market for and pricing of VoIP services; and (iii) the other considerations described as "Risk Factors" in iBasis' Annual Report on Form 10-K for its fiscal year ended December 31, 2000, and the company's other SEC filings.
(1) Based on a comparison of iBasis 1H 2001 traffic with global
voice traffic statistics in industry analyst publication TeleGeography
2002.
(2) According to Wintergreen Research "IP vs. Circuit Switching"
August, 2001; and IDC "Standalone VoIP Gateways: Market Analysis"
August 2000.
CONTACT: Media:
Adam Banker
iBasis, Inc.
781-505-7414
abanker@ibasis.net
or
Kevin Kosh
C.H.E.N. PR
781-466-8282
kkosh@chenpr.com
or
Investors:
John Quirk
iBasis, Inc.
781-505-7409
jquirk@ibasis.net
KEYWORD: MASSACHUSETTS INTERNATIONAL LATIN AMERICA ARGENTINA
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS TELECOMMUNICATIONS
NETWORKING E-COMMERCE
SOURCE: iBasis, Inc.
Today's News On The Net - Business Wire's full file on the Internet
with Hyperlinks to your home page.
URL: businesswire.com
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 11-19-01
07:11 AM |
