PSIX <news> to offer phone services thru net arteries?
Headline: PSINet's 1st-Quarter Loss Widened, But Revenue More Than Doubled
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NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- PSINet Inc. Tuesday reported its first-quarter
net loss widened, although revenue more than doubled.
The Herndon, Va., Internet service provider said its net loss widened
to $58.7 million, or $1.11 a share, from the year-ago level of $29.1
million, or 67 cents a share. Results in the year-earlier quarter
included a $7 million charge for in-process research and development.
Excluding the charge, the company posted a loss of 51 cents a share.
Revenue surged to $104.8 million from $44.5 million a year ago.
The company reported a loss before interest, taxes, depreciation and
amortization of $6.8 million, compared with a year-ago loss of $9.9
million.
PSINet (PSIX) said it provided service to over 59,700 corporate
customers as of March 31, an increase of 79% from a year ago. Accounts
outside the U.S. represented 60% of PSINet's customer base, compared
with 40% a year earlier.
PSINet plans to offer telephone calls using its Internet arteries.
Last year, it announced a series of acquisitions internationally and
agreed to buy capacity on an underseas fiber-optic link that connects
the U.S. with the Asia-Pacific. It also made a number of deals to expand
into Europe.
Companies such as PSINet claim they can carry voice traffic more
efficiently than traditional phone services. Traditional phone
technology opens a dedicated connection from one caller to another over
a switched network of copper wires. Internet-based voice service breaks
a call into tiny digital packets that find the most efficient route over
a data network.
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