Net2Phone and Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico Route Millionth Cable Telephony Minute
Wednesday August 13, 9:00 am ET
Cable Voice Over IP (VoIP)Performance in Puerto Rico is in Line with Primary Line Usage
NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 13, 2003-- Net2Phone, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTOP - News) and Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico (LCV) today announced the one millionth minute of cumulative talk time using Net2Phone's fully managed end-to-end IP telephony service over LCV's HFC cable network.
After an initial trial period in 2002, LCV began rolling out a paid local and long distance phone service earlier this year through an outsourcing relationship with Net2Phone. Dubbed "Liberty Voice Links," LCV has started offering select customers two billing plan options: a variable per minute 'Every Day' plan or a flat monthly rate 'Celebrity' plan. Both options include all available features, such as call waiting, caller ID, directory assistance, e911, as well as unlimited local calling. On average, customers have been generating about 1,100 minutes of use per month.
"Delivering integrated services over a converged network is clearly the future of cable," said Jose Alegria, General Manager of Liberty Cablevision Puerto Rico. "The successful initial rollout of Liberty Voice Links indicates that Net2Phone offers both a cost-effective and high-quality replacement telephony offering over an HFC network."
Net2Phone's cable voice platform permits cable operators to deploy telephony services easily via a fully outsourced solution, thereby enabling them to offer quality telephony services to their customers, reduce churn, generate incremental revenue and keep CapEx and operating expenses at a minimum.
The cable operator maintains ownership of the customer, service brand, and Tier I customer and technical support, while Net2Phone supports the back office platform, switching and transport, ongoing operations and Tier II+ technical support to deliver a fully managed QoS IP solution. Net2Phone tracks and monitors voice quality and network performance metrics from start to finish and provides cable operators with a full view into telephone calls routed over their network. Consumers benefit from savings compared to the cost of their current phone service, in addition to receiving an aggregating offering of cable TV, high-speed Internet access and telephone services.
Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico is a wholly-owned subsidiary ofLiberty Media Corporation. The 125,000 subscriber cable system provides cable services to 37 municipalities of the east, central and northern regions of the island of Puerto Rico. In the second quarter of 2002, the company launched the first full interactive television service on the island, as well as high-speed data access through cable modems. Liberty Cablevision's target is to reach its entire subscriber base with these innovative services by the first quarter of 2004. |
