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Technology Stocks : IDT *(idtc) following this new issue?* -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: wl9839 who wrote (12979)	8/12/1999 8:40:00 AM
From: wl9839	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 30916

Bloomberg's Version of JV News Spain's Telefonica, IDT to Form Telephone, Internet Venture Madrid, Aug. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Telefonica SA, Spain's biggest telephone company, and IDT Corp., a New Jersey telecommunications company, will jointly market phone and Internet services to Spanish speakers in the U.S. and Latin America, Telefonica said. Spain's largest traded company, which announced an alliance last month with Cisco Systems Inc., the No. 1 maker of Internet equipment, said IDT will also take a 10 percent stake in Telefonica's submarine cable venture, Sam-1. Telefonica, the No. 1 phone company in Latin America, has long wanted to expand its U.S. business to tap into telecommunications traffic between the U.S. and Latin America, especially Mexico. About twice as many calls between the U.S. and Mexico originate in the U.S., which has an Hispanic population of 30 million. The alliance will also allow it to boost its pre-paid telephone card sales in Latin America. ``Telefonica is interested in the U.S. for two reasons -- the strong traffic flows between Latin America and the U.S., and the Spanish language,' said Maria Rotondo, a telecommunications analyst at Santander Investment in Madrid, before the announcement. ``Speaking Spanish is an asset, and with an Internet business, you can capitalize on that asset.' IDT agreed to use at least $100 million of the submarine cable's capacity, Telefonica said. Telefonica and Tyco International Ltd., the world's top maker of underwater communications systems, formed the submarine cable venture in May, to connect Central America, South America and the U.S. On July 28, IDT sold a 10.3 percent stake in its Net2Phone Inc. Internet phone operation through an initial public offering. Telefonica shares rose as much as 2.4 percent to 14.64 euros. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ¸ Copyright 1999, Bloomberg L.P. All Rights Reserved.