Net2Phone and Lanka Bell to Offer Calling Cards in Sri Lanka; Partnership Leverages Flexibility of NGS Platform to Easily Implement Low Cost, High Quality Telephony Services
October 16, 2003 07:00 AM US Eastern Timezone
ITU TELECOM WORLD 2003
NEWARK, N.J. and COLOMBO, Sri Lanka--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 16, 2003--Net2Phone Global Services (NGS), LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Net2Phone, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTOP), the leading provider of retail Voice over IP (VoIP) services, and Lanka Bell Private Ltd., a leading telecommunications provider in Sri Lanka, today announced that they have signed an agreement to market Net2Phone's VoIP calling cards in Sri Lanka using Net2Phone's value added VoIP platform. The agreement builds on the flexibility of Net2Phone Global Services' hosted platform to deliver multiple VoIP products and services at a low cost to providers.
Under the agreement, Net2Phone will be the hosted service provider for Lanka Bell's calling cards, which will be distributed throughout Sri Lanka. The international calling cards, branded as "Net2Phone," will be targeted to those making calls to the Middle Middle East, India, UK Europe and US. Lanka Bell will advertise the Net2Phone Calling Cards throughout Sri Lanka via direct mail campaigns, print advertising and billboards. Pictures of the calling cards can be found at net2phone.com.
"Our focus is to leverage our scalable platform to quickly offer competitive, efficient telephony products and services," said Bryan Wiener, President of Net2Phone Global Services. "This relationship allows us to draw on Lanka Bell's distribution channels and knowledge of the competitive telecommunications landscape in Sri Lanka while continuing to build Net2Phone's brand equity in the Indian subcontinent."
This relationship with Lanka Bell builds on Net2Phone Global Services' strategy to offer hosted telecommunications solutions to partners globally, enabling them to offer low-cost VoIP services to their customers quickly, easily and at a low incremental cost. As a hosted provider, Net2Phone leverages its centrally managed platform to empower its partners with the tools they need to offer consumer and corporate customers a full suite of telecommunications services, including calling cards, corporate solutions, VoIP services for Internet cafes and public call centers, and prefix code dialing services.
"This partnership with Net2Phone is ideal for us in many ways as our two companies are very complementary to one another," said Joey V. Mendoza, Managing Director & CEO of Lanka Bell. "As a local provider, we are directly connected to customers and understand their telecommunications needs. This allows us to roll out new profitable services in the marketplace which take advantage of Net2Phone's central platform, robust international network and brand name to offer a high-quality low-cost alternative to the incumbent."
Consumers will be offered several different calling cards designed to specifically address the needs of various consumers in the market. Cards will target customers who call the United States and Western Europe, those who call mostly to the Indian Sub Continent, and for those customers who call the Middle East. The agreement also calls for future plans to introduce additional prepaid services, including calling cards for use outside of Sri Lanka. The companies are working together to establish a Net2Phone Point of Presence (POP) in Sri Lanka, which will route Net2Phone minutes out of Sri Lanka.
Net2Phone Global Services enables partners to expedite their time to market while benefiting from outsourcing their deployments to a provider that has the technical expertise, robust back-office and worldwide network to support multiple services on a single platform. Net2Phone helps reduce partners' capex and opex by managing all the back office billing, account generation, rating, routing and provisioning, while partners are responsible for sales, marketing, first level customer support and distribution.
About NGS
Over the past eight years, Net2Phone Global Services (NGS) has evolved from a low-cost provider of PC-based calling services to a next-generation provider of voice and enhanced services to businesses and consumers either directly or via a partner. While access points vary, NGS' products and services all leverage the same centrally managed platform, delivering quality telecommunications services over an IP network while enabling partners to minimize expenses and expedite time to market.
About Net2Phone
Founded in 1995, Net2Phone is a leading provider of voice services over IP networks worldwide, enabling toll-quality calls between computers, telephones, and broadband devices. Recognized as the first Company to bridge the Internet with the public switched telephone network, Net2Phone has routed billions of minutes of traffic over its award-winning network. Incorporated within the company are (1) Net2Phone Global Services, which sells retail VoIP solutions globally and (2) Net2Phone Cable Telephony, which has developed a fully outsourced standards-compliant telephony solution for cable operators. Traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol NTOP, Net2Phone's strategic partners and investors include Liberty Media Corporation (NYSE: LMC.A; LMC.B) and IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT; IDT.C). For more information about Net2Phone's products and services, please visit www.net2phone.com.
About Lanka Bell
Lanka Bell Private Limited has been operating in Sri Lanka since 1997. Its primary investors are MIEL Investment Corp.(Holding company of Transmarco- Singapore), Nortel Networks, Trans Asia Telecom of Singapore and the Asian Infrastructure Development Corporation-Japan. Lanka Bell's state-of-the-art digital network in Sri Lanka is the first of its kind in this region of Asia.
Since its inception, Lanka Bell has introduced a range of attractive new services such as BellSat (satellite service), BellBurst (broadband dedicated data access service), BellNet (Internet service), BellWorks (24-hour maintenance service), E-Billing (customer billing on the Internet), Mini Bell Centers (cyber cafe outlets), etc. Lanka Bell's prepaid IDD card service, BellKard, has remained very popular among its large subscriber base.
For more information about Lanka Bell and it's products and services, please visit www.lankabell.net. |
