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Strategies & Market Trends : Three Amigos Stock Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Sergio H who wrote (2295)3/29/1998 11:46:00 AM
From: Ditchdigger  Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 29382
 
Sergio,it's funny you mentioned VocalTec,I have been thinking of purchasing or trying the partial demo V5.0. Has anyone tried this? I have a friend who uses it with video etc.,and loves it..If anyone has an opinion,I would love to hear it.
vocaltec.com



To: Sergio H who wrote (2295)3/29/1998 1:18:00 PM
From: Phil Jacobson  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 29382
 
Sergio,

I'll follow-up Monday morning and find out why Jonas sold all his shares.

In the meantime the more I read the more I like. Keep in mind that IDT is NOT just an IP telephony carrier, they are largely a wholesaler of traditional and re-origination long distance and make money by keeping marketing expenses low by avoiding the mass market. The IP Telephony segment of the business was slightly unprofitable last quarter, but it's quickly approaching break-even.

From the most recent 10Q filing:

"Revenues from the Company's telecommunications operations are derived
primarily from the following activities: (i) wholesale carrier services to other long distance carriers; (ii) prepaid calling cards; (iii) international retail long distance services to individuals and businesses worldwide (primarily provided through call reorigination services); and (iv) domestic long distance services to individuals and businesses. Revenues from the Company's Internet operations are derived primarily from providing Internet access services to individuals and businesses. The Company's Net2Phone revenues are derived from the marketing of Net2Phone and Net2Phone Direct services and equipment to individuals, businesses and the Company's foreign partners."

And later...

"Net loss from operations for the Internet access segment of the
Company's business decreased to approximately $1.4 million in the three months ended January 31, 1998 from approximately $2.8 million in the three months ended January 31, 1997. The decreased loss of the Internet access segment is largely due to the refocusing of the Company's marketing efforts from aggressive mass marketing to new reseller programs. Income generated from the operations of the
Net2Phone division increased to approximately $280,000 for the three months ended January 31, 1998, compared to a loss of approximately $407,000 for the three months ended January 31, 1997. This change is due to the substantial increase in Net2Phone revenues since the product's introduction to the market in July 1996, and the sale of equipment in the three months ended January 31, 1998."

IP Telephony is NOT just about cheap residential service. The bigger opportunities are in business data products. Below is a link to a story about IDT's deal with Orion to get access to their worldwide satellite network.

quicken.excite.com

Next is a story about IP fax, where the call is routed over the internet, and no computer is needed. Basically, the call is routed from anyone's fax machine to an IDT server, is sent over Internet to site nearest destination, then routed back through local network to the other fax machine. Doing this internationally is incredibly cost efficient and there's no issue on quality.

quicken.excite.com

These guys are not a one trick pony. They know they need to be in several market segments to avoid getting killed by cross-market subsidizers. Otherwise companies like WCOM can leverage profits in one of their businesses to subsidize low rates to kill off competition in others. IDTC seems to be very savvy and will be a good player, possibly an excellent buyout candidate for QWST, LVLT, or others as well. At current levels (or even 30%+ more) they would be accretive to earnings for a whole slew of telecom carriers.

Phil