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Microcap & Penny Stocks : XSNI - X-Stream Network -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: donkeyman who wrote (1746)	7/3/1999 4:17:00 PM
From: Troutbum	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3519

Dman, Story from Business Times Online 6/13/99. Note expected # of X-Stream subscribers in first year. btimes.co.za 'Free' Internet in the guise of endowment INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY By SHERILEE BRIDGE SO-CALLED "free" Internet is being touted in SA as listed technology company E-Data prepares to offer one of the country's first leveraged Internet services this month, despite doubts in the industry. Buyers will be tempted to invest R100 a month, the price of a standard Internet subscription, in an endowment policy for five years. The investor then receives free Internet access, and is paid out R4 900 at the policy's term - less than total premium outlay. The IT industry has been abuzz with talk of "free" Internet but many players are doubtful about free-lunch offers. E-Data project manager Pierre Vivier says a feasible route has been found, based on a revenue model fed and subsidised by transactions. The new venture could even be spun off and listed separately. "What we are looking at is the birth of a new-age Internet service provider (ISP). We believe it will put a new twist on the already over-competitive market," says Vivier. Backed on the ISP side by Infoline, an ex-Pinnacle company, and by Hollard on the product-offer side, E-Data will continue to seek partners who add value to its own "value-added offering". "For the first time we are saying, here is something back for using the Internet," says Vivier. Several ISPs have looked at providing free access, but none has been willing to take the first leap. Now the imminent introduction of free Internet sets the stage for another industry shake-up, propelling SA's 200 ISPs either to follow suit or face heavy competition. The first warning came in March when X-Stream SA, backed by its UK parent, said it would offer free access. Many local ISPs are still reluctant to admit that SA will eventually have to follow the global trend. Feeling that SA is "still not ready" for the service, some of the country's largest ISPs have come out against the concept. X-Stream has franchised its technology to a group of Cape Town service providers which expect 122 000 users in the first year and 500 000 in the third. However, unlike X-Stream's advertising revenue model, E-Data's is based on an investment-motivated offering, followed by a move to FreeNet. "The concept is totally self-subsidising from day one. What we are looking for is total financial aggregation on the Internet," says Vivier. FreeNet, giving free access to the Internet, is based completely on what the industry terms "transactionality". Access is hooked to the purchase of short-term insurance and subsidised by the saved brokerage fees. E-Data has also developed FreeNet content, which will call on some of the company's other products in investor relations and online trading. ://www.btimes.co.za/99/0613/tech/tech03.htm