Net2Phone Signs Full Production Cable Telephony Agreements with Coditel Luxembourg, Coditel Belgium and Est Videocommunication in France
November 04, 2004 09:33 AM US Eastern Timezone
NEWARK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 4, 2004--Net2Phone (NASDAQ: NTOP)
- Net2Phone Announces Warrant Incentive Program to Cable Operators-
- Cable operators incentivized to accelerate subscriber enrollments -
Net2Phone (NASDAQ: NTOP), a leading Voice over IP (VoIP) enabler for service providers, today announced that it has signed definitive agreements with Coditel Belgium, Coditel Luxembourg and Est Videocommunication in France, all members of the Altice One group, representing franchises passing 520,000 homes. These cable franchises will begin offering Net2Phone's cable VoIP solution to their subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2004.
Net2Phone also announced that it has introduced a warrant incentive program, allowing selected cable operators to earn warrants to purchase shares of Net2Phone common stock. The Board of Directors has reserved up to five million shares for issuance under this plan. The execution of definitive agreements with cable operators that meet specific criteria will trigger warrant grants, which become exercisable as the cable operator reaches target telephony subscriber levels. The Altice One group represents the first of several cable operators who have opted to join the warrant program.
"We are very excited for our upcoming European VoIP launches, starting with Luxembourg and Brussels in the 4th quarter of 2004. Net2Phone allows us to deliver the highest quality service to our customers and the warrant program certainly creates an incentive for us and Net2Phone to jointly drive subscriber penetration," stated Patrick Drahi, CEO of Altice One, "This also gives us the opportunity to share in Net2Phone's successes as it delivers its compelling offer to other operators in Europe and elsewhere."
"Altice One is a great partner for Net2Phone," said Stephen Greenberg, Chairman of Net2Phone. "They are led by a smart and aggressive management team that understands the value of rolling out Net2Phone's managed telephony services. The warrant program is specifically designed to accelerate subscriber enrollment and give early adopters an equity stake in Net2Phone's growth. Net2Phone's integrated, open-standards solutions give cable operators the ability to delivering the triple play and bundle voice alongside their video and Internet offerings, delivering entertainment, information and communications services to consumers."
Since 1996, Net2Phone has been leading the way in retail VoIP services, and is focused on empowering cable operators with a suite of telephony solutions that provide them with the triple play of voice, video and data.
Net2Phone provides cable operators worldwide with a fully integrated and hosted telecommunications solution utilizing both DOCSIS compliant and SIP-based VoIP technologies. By leveraging a distributed architecture of software and equipment combined with a cost-effective service offering, Net2Phone enables cable operators to sell their own telephony solution to their customers utilizing their existing high-speed data network at low incremental costs. Calls are managed via Net2Phone's back-office monitoring and management systems, providing a shared interface between the cable operator's local access network and the public switched telephone network.
About Net2Phone
Net2Phone provides VoIP PacketCable, SIP and wireless solutions around the world. As leaders in enabling telecom service providers and cable operators with turn-key hosted VoIP telephony services, Net2Phone has routed billions of retail VoIP minutes globally, servicing more than 100,000 users in the US as well as hundreds of thousands of more overseas. Net2Phone's hosted SIP platform provides partners with residential broadband telephony, calling cards, prefix dialing and enterprise services in over 100 countries. Net2Phone's PacketCable platform provides cable operators with the ability to deliver a primary line replacement service with guaranteed QoS and features such as E911. Traded on the NASDAQ under the symbol NTOP, Net2Phone's strategic partners and investors include Liberty Media Corporation (NYSE: L; LMC.B) and IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT; IDT.C). For more information about Net2Phone's products and services, please visit www.net2phone.com.
About Altice One
Altice One is a European Cable Venture whose purpose is to acquire, expand and consolidate cable clusters in Western Europe. At the end of 2002, Altice acquired Est Videocommunication, the leading cable operator in eastern France. Est Videocommunication provides Analog TV, Digital TV and Broadband Internet to nearly 200,000 RGUs. For more information about Est Videocommunication, visit estvideo.com. At the end of 2003, Altice acquired Coditel Brabant, the cable operator of the town of Brussels, and Coditel SA, the cable operator of the town of Luxembourg. Coditel provides Analog TV and Broadband Internet to nearly 200,000 RGUs. For more information about Coditel, visit coditel.be and coditel.lu. |
