Monday February 22, 8:00 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Net2Phone to Offer Internet
Telephony Services in Two
Additional Countries
New Deal Will Allow Phone-to-Phone and Real-Time Fax
Communications at Drastically Reduced Rates.
HACKENSACK, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 22, 1999-- IDT's Net2Phone
(Nasdaq: IDTC - news) today announced that it will begin offering Internet
telephony services in Brazil and Russia.
Through an agreement with multinational telemarketing company TVB
International, Net2Phone gateways will be installed in two developing markets
to offer direct dialing, calling cards, and real-time fax using Internet telephony
from a person's home or business without the need for a computer. Net2Phone's
products and services enable direct low cost phone-to-phone and fax-to-fax
communications over the Internet.
All calls will be routed over dedicated IP lines using Net2Phone's gateways,
and will enable users to place telephone calls and send faxes to any telephone
or fax machine in the world. TVB Communications has set an aggressive target for installing additional Net2Phone gateways in a new country every few months.
''For the last three years, TVB has been searching for the right business to
strengthen our foray into Internet telephony,'' said David Home, president and
managing director of TVB Communications International. ''After fully
exploring our options, we decided that Net2Phone is the perfect company to
supply all our equipment and services in the IP telephony arena.''
This agreement enables Net2Phone to expand its phone-to-phone and fax-to-fax
IP service to more countries around the world. By creating a worldwide IP
telephony network, Net2Phone is able to capitalize on deregulating markets and
begin offering more low-cost and value-added services in countries that become
open to competition.
''TVB's international status makes it a perfect choice for us to expand our
product offerings to a more global market,'' said David Greenblatt, chief
operating officer of Net2Phone. ''We are aggressively working with TVB to
market IP Telephony to both business clients and the general population in
developing countries.''
IDT is a leading emerging multinational carrier that combines its position as an
international telecommunications operator, its experience as an Internet service
provider and its leading position in Internet telephony to provide a broad range
of telecommunications services to its wholesale and retail customers
worldwide. The company provides its customers with integrated and
competitively priced international and domestic long distance, pre-paid calling
cards, Internet access and, through its Net2Phone product offerings, Internet
telephony services including Net2Phone Direct, Net2Fax, Click2Talk, and
easysurf.com. For more information about IDT's Internet telephony services,
please visit www.net2phone.com.
TVB Communications International was established in 1991 to operate
independent telemarketing for five star hotel chains. Over the last eight years,
TVB's operation has expanded to represent 50 International hotels in more than
15 countries. TVB also owns a 20% share of Bulgaria's largest ISP server
company BlsOnline that is in the process of linking nine of Bulgaria's largest
cities to the Internet by satellite. TVB currently has 22 offices and more than
400 employees in offices in Brazil, Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan,
India, Zimbabwe, Turkey, Russia, Yemen, Oman, Bulgaria, Dubai and
Australia. New offices are planned to open in South Africa, Uganda, Croatia
and the Republic of Georgia.
Except for historical information, all of the expectations and assumptions
contained in the foregoing are forward-looking statements involving risks and
uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ
materially from such forward-looking statements, include, but are not limited
to, the competitive environment for Internet telephony, changes of rates of all
related telco rates and services, legislation that may affect the Internet
telephony industry, IDT's ability to operate the services described on a large
scale commercial level. For additional information regarding these and other
risks associated with the company's business refer to the company's reports filed
with the SEC.
Contact:
IDT Public Relations, Hackensack
Sarah Hofstetter, 201/928-2882
sarah@net2phone.com
or
IDT Investor Relations, Hackensack
Janine Kutliroff, 201/928-4391
janinek@corp.idt.net |
