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Technology Stocks : VocalTec (VOCL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ted Downs who wrote (1074)	2/11/1998 9:23:00 PM
From: STK1	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2349

Ted: DELTA THREE IS ONE OF VOCLF"S MAJOR SUPPLIERS read into this what you may but IT sounds awfully GOOD. Tuesday February 10, 6:04 pm Eastern Time INTERVIEW-RSL Com to launch Net phones in Europe By Arindam Nag LONDON, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Cheaper international phone calls via the Internet will become a reality across Europe in the middle of this year with the launch of a new service aimed at businesses. RSL Communications (RSLCF - news), created by Ronald S. Lauder, member of the Estee Lauder cosmetic family and Itzhah Fisher, its chief executive, plan to launch Internet telephony, which is expected to reduce users' telephone bills by at least 15 to 20 percent. ''The more deregulated the markets become, the cheaper it would get,'' Fisher told Reuters in an interview. Internet telephony is cheaper because a dialled number connects to an Internet gateway which routes through the net to another gateway rather than using traditional international lines. The second gateway connects with regular phone system, and dials the final destination. Phone subscribers pay for local calls and avoid long-distance charges. RSL clients have logged more than four million minutes in the last four months in the United States and has reported ''good'' use in Colombia, Japan and Venezuela. Fisher said Internet telephony would mean a call to Sweden from the UK would cost just 29 cents per minute. ''And that is still 15 cents less than BT (British Telecommunications)(quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: BT.L),'' he said. At that price RSL would be left with a margin of four cents. After Sweden deregulates its telecom sector fully the margins could improve further. The Internet phone services are being provided through Delta Three, a wholly-owned unit of RSL Communications. Delta Three is setting up gateways in all European centres. RSL's main target is the small and medium businesses which spends nearly $60 billion annually worldwide long-distance telephone calls, half of that in Europe. The global market is seen rising to more than $100 billion by 2000. By then, Fisher says, at least 30 percent of telephone traffic would be through the Internet. Fisher admits that RSL is not alone in this market and would be chased by the big players in the industry. Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE:DT - news; DTEG.F) has picked up a 21 percent stake in Israeli net telephony firm VocalTec Communications Ltd (VOCLF - news). Telecom Finland is also providing Internet-based phone services. ''The big players would find it difficult to reduce their prices overnight. By then I will have my market,'' Fisher said. RSL Communications has yet to show profits although analysts have recently upgraded its shares currently traded at $21-1/8. Fisher said the company hopes to break even by 2000. It recorded a net loss of $68 million in the nine months to September 1997. ''It takes at least three to five years to break even in this business,'' he said. More Quotes and News: Deutsche Telekom AG (NYSE:DT - news) RSL COmmunications Ltd (Nasdaq:RSLCF - news) VocalTec Communications Ltd (Nasdaq:VOCLF - news) Related News Categories: international