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Microcap & Penny Stocks : FRANKLIN TELECOM (FTEL) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Jack Sman who wrote (33237)4/30/1998 7:40:00 PM
From: STK1  Respond to of 41046
 
Yall Help out the industry and buy some RSL or VocalTec,Wer'e on tour.
Thursday April 30, 6:57 pm Eastern Time

RSL launches Internet phone service for Europe

LONDON, April 30 (Reuters) - RSL Communications Ltd (RSLCF - news) said on Thursday its subsidiary Delta Three Inc
launched a European Internet telephone service which will slash the cost of calls.

RSL said the venture uses technology developed with Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson AB (LMEb.ST).

''The service is available in Britain today, and should expand to reach 14 European countries and over 40 globally by the end of
the year,'' Richard Williams, president and chief executive officer of RSL COM Europe, told a news conference.

According to Elie Wurtman, chief executive of Delta Three, the Internet telephone service can offer price savings of up to 75
percent for high priced long distance service.

''Examples of potential savings include rates of 36 pence to Argentina and Brazil, compared with BT's (British
Telecommunications Plc (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: BT.L)) day-time rate of 131.85 pence,'' Wurtman told the news
conference.

It can even undercut cheaper long-distance services provided by companies like WorldCom Inc (WCOM - news) by up to 40
percent, Wurtman said.

To use the service subscribers must purchase pre-paid phone cards or pre-paid accounts. They dial a toll-free number, insert
their account number, then dial the call. They don't need to own a computer.

As each call is made, the system tells the subscriber how much time is left on the card or account, and how much cash is left.

A 30 second call from London to Ridgefield, Connecticut, by this reporter debited a five pound card by just seven pence (12
cents).

The calls are routed to a local Internet service provider, compressed into data packets, and routed to an Internet service
provider near the call's destination. They are then turned back into traditional voice on regular local circuits which dial the call.

Delta Three claims the voice quality is as good as regular telephones.

''We are the first company to offer Internet Telephony as a real product for European consumers and slash the cost of
international calling,'' Wurtman said.

Delta also offers a personal computer-to-telephone service.

RSL Communications of New York was founded by Ronald S. Lauder, a member of the Estee Lauder cosmetic family.

RSL has said that its main target for Internet telephony is small and medium business, which spend nearly $60 billion annually
worldwide on long-distance telephone calls, half of that in Europe.

By 2000 this spending should rise to more than $100 billion, RSL said, and at least 30 percent would be travelling via the
Internet.

Other major world players in Internet telephony include Deutsche Telekom AG (DTEG.F) which has bought a 21 percent stake
in Israeli pioneer VocalTec Communications Ltd (VOCLF - news).

RSL has yet to make a profit, but has said it hopes to break even by 2000.

($ equals 0.598 British Pounds Sterling)

More Quotes
and News:
RSL COmmunications Ltd (Nasdaq:RSLCF - news)
VocalTec Communications Ltd (Nasdaq:VOCLF - news)
Worldcom Inc (Nasdaq:WCOM - news)



To: Jack Sman who wrote (33237)4/30/1998 8:35:00 PM
From: Darrel Orpen  Read Replies (3) | Respond to of 41046
 
Re: Conditional listing on the Nasdaq

The fault in delaying our anxiously awaited listing is not all with FTEL, but largely with the unresponsive Nasdaq regulators. As has been represented to me, the individuals with Nasdaq responsible for granting the listing have had the required information but the share price has not met the required $5.00 price for senior listing or the $4.00 for small-cap board listing.

In frustration, Frank and Tom (last week on the East Coast trip) deliberately met with these regulators and were told there may be a way to grant a 'conditional listing'. The conditions of this listing, in general terms are: the company meets all the necessary requirements excepting the price condition. The company can get a conditional listing and has 90 days to meet the price requirement. My understanding is this is to be at or above the necessary price for a period of ten consecutive business days or more.

This conditional listing is not a fait accompli. FTEL expects to hear from these regulators by May 7th regarding the acceptance of this conditional listing. And to introduce prudent person diligence, no one can speak for the Nasdaq boys so there is still the chance they will not grant a conditional listing and the listing process will have to be gone through again, though in a much more abbreviated time.

The company's strategy relating to the colocation process with WCOM has slightly changed since Mr. Magruder took the helm. There will be a quicker colocation of POPs in international location. The initial plan was to be largely domestic in the first phase-in of the DVGs but the new FNET management teams's experience showed the optimal positioning for revenue generation would be to get a more immediate presence in the international markets (4 international along with 8 domestic cities by July). When this gets extended to 50 cities by year-end, the high-margin revenues will be significant. Until we see their pricing plan, its difficult to assign a number to this. But the number of DVGs to accomplish this can be reasonably estimated by the technically proficient on this board.

And it must be noted that none of the above discussion takes into account the immediate focus of the sales force: the corporate intranets. DVGs are out and being tested by small, mid and large companies. The practical response for these corporations will be to eventually purchase these for intranet usage because the savings are so significant. Smaller companies are putting in their orders. But the waiting, not only for FTEL but for all other DVG suppliers, is for a large multinational to commit to the strategy of switching to these DVGs for their intranet usage. Many of these companies have their toes in the water but the process is slow for them to commit. But as RB and others have noted, the DVG testing process by proceeding is increasing the tension on that coiled spring of purchases.

I was not able to get any more info on the IPO efforts beyond what has been stated on this board. I am not able to guess at the issues viewed by the potential investment groups since I am not privy to the business plan.

Meyerson has sold a lot of shares in the last few weeks along with others. The benefit here is the money put into FTEL's coffers upon the exercise of the warrants. The curiosity is who is doing the buying? I don't feel it is normal retail purchasing. There appears to be some accumulation from groups that are positioning at a discounted price. And these groups also knew that if they were the dominance on the buy side, they could keep inching the price downwards. Kathy Green has made some good comments on the dynamics of the recent trading and I would like to hear her (and others) opinion on whether the last month has shown indications of organized accumulation.

It has been represented to me that FTEL has some news coming out which combined with the added strength of obtaining a conditional listing, should move the price back to the required $5.00 level and the listing becoming permanent. I can give no knowledge on the substance and strength of this news or how the investing dollar will respond to it. It appears the path has been outlined in the recent news releases and I hope the announcements give confirmation to the reality of stepping down this path.

Looking foreward to others adding to this brief summary of the news as I understand it.

Darrel Orpen



To: Jack Sman who wrote (33237)4/30/1998 9:35:00 PM
From: William Harvey  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 41046
 
Thanks, Jack.

FTEL was split about as even as it gets today: 31.3k/offer vs 31.4/bid. The only big block traded was a sell for 13k at 11:16.

Tomorrow is the start of a new conversion period. As the price of conversion for preferred class c holders is pegged by 85% of the average closing price for the last 20 days, I've toted up the average: $3.22 for the last 20 days and 85% of that is $2.74. By my guesstimate, there are about 1.1 million shares waiting to be converted at this price {$7.4mil*40%*(1+.08*7/12)/$2.74}. $7.4mil=total of preferred holding, 40%=two months of unconverted holdings, .08*7/12=appreciation after 7 months at 8%, $2.74=conversion price. The reason it's so high is because had the preferred holders converted in April at any time, they would have lost money. I'm not real sure that even half of the March conversions were exercised either - which certainly means they may be in for the long haul. They can put conversions off for up to a year and gain 8% per annum for their patience.

Thanks, Darrel for the info on conditional listing.

WH