Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Qwest Communications (Q) (formerly QWST) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MangoBoy who wrote (984)	3/11/1998 9:57:00 AM
From: MangoBoy	Respond to of 6846

[ICG Joins Long Distance Price Wars, Plans 5.9 Cents A Minute Rate] By Stephanie N. Mehta Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal ICG Communications Inc., jumping into the Internet telephony price wars, plans to offer long-distance calling for 5.9 cents a minute. The rate undermines the dime-a-minute pricing widely available to consumers. It also undercuts Qwest Communications International Inc.'s 7.5 cent-a-minute price for calls using Internet technology. IDT Corp., a small carrier in Hackensack, N.J., is offering a five-cent rate in a limited number of markets. These new carriers are able to offer lower prices in part because their calls bypass the tolls that traditional long-distance carriers must pay to local phone companies, which carry the calls into homes and offices. Such fees, known as access charges, can total more than four cents a minute. "I can offer calls at this (5.9 cents) rate and still make money," said J. Shelby Bryan, president and chief executive of ICG, in Englewood, Colo. ICG, which offers local service in California, the Southeast and parts of the Midwest, is able to offer long-distance service nationwide because of its recent acquisition of Internet service provider Netcom On-Line Communication Services Inc., with network facilities in 238 markets. Netcom's local offices will serve as gateways for the long-distance calls, which must be broken into digital "packets" before transmission over the Internet. ICG said Lucent Technologies Inc. will supply equipment for the service. Mr. Bryan said the service will be available to business and residential customers in 166 markets by year end. The 5.9-cents-a-minute rate applies to calls originating and terminating in those markets, which represent about 90% of domestic long-distance traffic, ICG said. Calls terminating outside the cities will cost 7.2 cents a minute. The leap into the long-distance business is a significant move for tiny IGC, which had revenue of $273 million last year. Mr. Bryan said the company has had to invest in customer-service centers and software to sign up and bill new long-distance customers. There are risks, too. Consumers may not tolerate the inferior quality of "voice-over-Internet" calls. The big savings such carriers garner from bypassing the traditional telephone architecture could evaporate if regulators decide to subject Internet telephone calls to the same access charges as regular phone calls. Separately, ICG is expected to announce plans to offer high-speed Internet access to small businesses and some consumers in the local markets it serves. The company plans to use digital subscriber line, or "DSL," technology to allow customers to download data quickly over traditional copper telephone lines. To deliver the service, ICG said it will install equipment in the Baby Bells' central offices and lease access to local telephone lines from the Bells. Mr. Bryan said ICG is the first of the competitive local exchange carriers to announce a DSL offering, something that many Baby Bells and GTE Corp. plan to deploy.

To: MangoBoy who wrote (984)	3/11/1998 10:00:00 AM
From: MangoBoy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6846

[ICG Announces Nationwide IP Telephony] 5.9 Cents A Minute Service Available In More Markets Than Any Other IP Telephony Offering ENGLEWOOD, Colo., March 11 /PRNewswire/ -- ICG Communications, Inc. today announced its nationwide Internet Protocol (IP) Telephony service for 5.9 Cents per minute in 166 cities across the United States. Through the acquisition of NETCOM On-Line Communication Services (Netcom), one of the nation's largest Internet Service Providers (ISP), earlier this year, ICG Communications has created a broadband data network reaching the nation's top markets, enabling it to offer high-quality IP telephony and data services. "The recent acquisition of Netcom has enabled ICG to take the lead on IP telephony and we will be the first company in the nation to commercially deploy IP telephony equipment in 166 cities across the country," said J. Shelby Bryan, president and CEO of ICG Communications. "We will offer our business and residential customers a state-of-the-art package that includes long distance service over ICG's IP network for under six cents a minute," Bryan said. Bryan stated that, "ICG's IP service will be of the highest quality and will be bundled with ICG's local dial tone, Internet and data services in many areas." Bryan added, "ICG is unique in the IP telephony field not only because we have a comprehensive nationwide network to deploy the service, but also because ICG has the voice technology and operations support systems expertise to ensure this service is successfully deployed." ICG is planning a rapid deployment of its IP telephony service to 166 U.S. markets by year-end, which will include other IP Services such as virtual private networks and IP facsimile. The company's IP service will cover ninety percent of the U.S. long distance market and be offered in nearly seven times the number of cities as any competitor. ICG will offer its IP long distance for 5.9 cents a minute for calls originating and terminating on its IP network and 7.2 cents for calls originating on its IP network but terminating elsewhere. These rates apply to both residential and business customers. ICG will be partnering with industry leaders such as Lucent and Cisco to deploy aggressively the state-of-the-art IP telephony equipment during 1998. The acquisition of Netcom gives ICG one of the nation's largest ISP footprints (238 points of presence nationwide) to offer its services. ICG and Netcom will begin to market long distance and IP service to their business customers as well as their 500,000 dial-up customers beginning in the second quarter of 1998. ICG's IP telephony service will be sold over the Internet and through its inbound telemarketing center. ICG will control the quality of its IP calls by utilizing its national control center in Englewood, Colorado. SOURCE ICG Communications, Inc. -0- 03/11/98 /CONTACT: Alison Schwartz, ICG Public Relations Manager, Alison_Schwartz@icgcomm.com, 303-626-3477, or Steve Smith, Director of Investor Relations, 303-414-5350, both of ICG Communications, Inc./ /Web site: icgcomm.com