live on Monday - Ntop/Liberty Media Cablevision (Puerto Rico)..
Net2Phone, Liberty To Offer VOIP Service In Puerto Rico
By Ellen Sheng
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
Saturday May 22, 5:59 AM
sg.biz.yahoo.com
NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Internet phone provider Net2Phone Inc. (NTOP) is expanding its relationship with Liberty Media Corp. (L) to make voice-over-Internet protocol available to 300,000 homes in Puerto Rico starting Monday.
The service, called VoiceLinks, will be available to all Liberty Cablevision customers in Puerto Rico next week.
Liberty, which owns a non-controlling stake in Net2Phone, has been testing Net2Phone's technology in a trial for the past year. Liberty Cablevision passes about 300,000 homes and serves about 120,000 customers in the eastern, central and northern regions of the island.
For Net2Phone, a Newark, N.J.-based Internet phone provider, the expanded relationship with Liberty is the latest inroad with cable operators. Last week, the company inked a deal with Bresnan Communications, a small cable operator with 300,000 subscribers in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and Utah. Net2Phone now has deals with seven cable operators in four countries. By this autumn, the company's services will be offered to 2.3 million homes.
While some other Internet phone providers, notably Edison, N.J.-based Vonage, have decided to sell directly to customers, Net2Phone has taken what is arguably a more difficult path by choosing to team up with cable operators.
"If cable operators had their choice, they wouldn't outsource. They prefer to build it internally and own it," said Stephen Greenberg, Net2Phone's chief executive.
But Net2Phone is getting more interest from cable operators as the industry races to offer the "triple play" bundle of services - packing TV, phone and Internet all in one bill.
All major cable operators have deployed, or are in the midst of deploying, Internet phone service. Satellite operators have formed partnerships with local phone companies to offer bundled services. And even long-distance giant AT&T Corp. (T), seeing opportunity in voice-over-IP technology, launched a separate Internet phone service, CallVantage, in March.
For smaller cable companies, which have less resources on hand, teaming with a company such as Net2Phone is a way to offer voice-over-IP services quickly.
Greenberg said Net2Phone has had an easier time approaching cable operators in Europe, where competition from satellite TV broadcasters and phone companies is stiffer. Net2Phone may have underestimated its opportunity in Europe, he said.
In November, the company estimated it would have exposure to 8.2 million customers in five years. With 2.3 million under its belt, "we're ahead of where we thought we'd be," he said.
For its fiscal second quarter ended Jan. 31, Net2Phone reported a net loss of $9.5 million, compared with a net loss of $9.2 million a year ago. Revenue fell to $19.8 million from $23.1 million in the prior year. The company will report fiscal thir quarter earnings on June 9.
Net2Phone's shares closed Friday at $3.62, up 2.8%.
Liberty, Englewood Colo., is a holding company with interests in media, communications and entertainment, including News Corp. (NWS), QVC, Encore, Starz! and UnitedGlobalCom Inc. (UCOMA). |
