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Net2Phone and Liberty Cablevision Sign
Agreement to Launch Phase II of Cable Telephony Pilot
Service highlights include Class 5 features and flexible billing
plans
Newark, NJ - Dec 9, 2002 - Net2Phone, Inc. (Nasdaq: NTOP), the
leading provider of Voice over IP (VoIP) services, and Liberty Cablevision
of Puerto Rico today launched Phase II of their fully managed end-to-end
IP telephony service over Liberty Cablevision's HFC cable network.
The local and long distance residential VoIP phone service will
be made available to as many as 4,000 Liberty Cablevision subscribers
and offers traditional phone service features and applications such
as call waiting, caller ID, and directory assistance among others.
Regulatory features such as emergency 911 service and CALEA will
be tested and deployed in stages during Phase II, which will be
available in December 2002 and is scheduled to run through summer
2003.
Liberty Cablevision customers will have the flexibly to select
between two billing plans: a variable per minute 'Every Day' plan
or a flat monthly rate 'Celebrity' plan. Both options include all
available features, as well as unlimited local calling. The 'Celebrity'
plan also includes four hours of long distance calling anywhere
in Puerto Rico or the US, while 'Every Day' plan customers will
be billed a competitive per minute rate for their long distance
calling. The offerings will provide key insights into local and
long distance residential telephony usage behavior while offering
customers a compelling alternative and savings of up to 25% over
their current telephone service.
"We are very excited about the launch of the second phase
of this proof of concept, as it further validates the viability
of the Net2Phone solution, as well as commencing the paid subscriber
service. For years, industry experts have been espousing the potential
of cable telephony, at Net2Phone we see this as another step towards
its proliferation," said Stephen Greenberg, Chief Executive
Officer of Net2Phone.
"Liberty Cablevision is pleased to expand our pilot project
with Net2Phone," said Jose Alegria, General Manager of
Liberty Cablevision Puerto Rico. "The unique benefits of
cable telephony are apparent. VoIP, versus the traditional circuit
switched cable telephony, is enabling us to provide our customers
with a compelling new value-added service on a cost efficient basis."
Calls are routed directly from a cable subscriber's existing telephone
plugged into a cable modem with embedded multimedia terminal adapter
(eMTA), over the cable Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) network to Motorola's
cable modem termination system (CMTS). The call is then routed to
the Net2Phone managed IP network, which rates, manages, provisions,
and bills the call and routes it over a managed IP network to the
closest gateway to the recipient before the call is transferred
to the public switched telephone network (PSTN).
The end-to-end PacketCable switching solution utilizes Net2Phone's
real-time service and network management suite, Cable Voice Operations
Support System (CVOSS), which is a fully automated VoIP management
suite that incorporates monitoring, diagnosing and troubleshooting
elements across the local cable HFC network, Net2Phone's global
IP network and the PSTN. The sophisticated CVOSS monitoring system
enables the MSO to proactively monitor real-time views of each network
segment to identify, diagnose and resolve the root cause of problems
before callers become aware of them. Net2Phone also provides 24x7
network operations, technical support and local and long distance
bilateral interconnect agreements. The CVOSS and Packet Cable switching
platform provides the real-time service assurance necessary to enable
the Quality-of-Service (QoS) required to deliver toll-quality voice
services to residential and business customers throughout the local
HFC network.
Until now, cable telephony services have deployed a hybrid PSTN/IP
solution requiring them to allocate fixed, static bandwidth and
utilize legacy Class 5E switches and infrastructure to route calls
over the cable access network resulting in higher CapEx and operating
expenses. Net2Phone's cable voice platform permits cable operators
to deploy telephony services easily via a fully outsourced solution,
thereby enabling them to offer quality telephony services to their
customers, reduce churn, generate incremental revenue and keep CapEx
and operating expenses at a minimum.
The cable operator maintains ownership of the customer, service
brand, and Tier I customer and technical support, while Net2Phone
supports the back office platform, switching and transport, ongoing
operations and Tier II+ technical support to deliver a fully managed
QoS IP solution. Net2Phone tracks and monitors voice quality and
network performance metrics from start to finish and provides cable
operators with a full view into telephone calls routed over their
network. Consumers benefit from savings over their current phone
service, in addition to receiving a unified bill, aggregating cable
TV, high-speed Internet access and telephone services.
Founded in 1995, Net2Phone is a leading provider of voice services
over IP networks to consumers, businesses and carriers worldwide.
With millions of users around the world, Net2Phone enables toll-quality
calls between computers, telephones, and broadband devices utilizing
IP networks. Recognized as the first company to bridge the Internet
with the public switched telephone network, Net2Phone has routed
billions of minutes of traffic over its award-winning network. Incorporated
within the Company is its Cable Technologies Division, which has
developed a fully outsourced standards-compliant telephony solution
for cable operators, using components from companies such as Arris,
Motorola, Gallery iPT, Mind CTI, Nuera and CoreOS. Traded on the
NASDAQ under the symbol NTOP, Net2Phone's strategic partners and
investors include Liberty Media Corporation (NYSE: LMC.A; LMC.B),
AT&T (NYSE: T), and IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT; IDT.B). For
more information about Net2Phone's products and services, please
visit www.net2phone.com.
Liberty Media Corporation (NYSE: L, LMC.B) owns interests in a
broad range of video programming, broadband distribution, interactive
technology services and communications businesses. Liberty Media
and its affiliated companies operate in the United States, Europe,
South America and Asia with some of the world's most recognized
and respected brands, including Encore, STARZ!, Discovery, QVC and
Court TV.
Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico is a wholly-owned subsidiary
of media leader Liberty Media Corporation. The 125,000 subscriber
cable system provides cable services to 37 municipalities of the
east, central and northern regions of the island of Puerto Rico.
Since Liberty Media Corporation took over the system in 2000, the
PR system has grown its subscriber base by 18%, and has successfully
launched a digital tier offering to its subscribers. In the second
quarter of 2002, the company launched the first full interactive
television service on the island, as well as high-speed data access
through cable modems. Liberty Cablevision's target is to reach its
entire subscriber base with these innovative services by the end
of year 2003.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended,
and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
These forward- looking statements involve risks and uncertainties
and actual results could differ materially from those discussed
in the forward-looking statements. For this purpose, any statements
contained in this press release that are not statements of historical
fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Factors which
may affect the Company's results include, but are not limited to,
the Company's ability to expand its customer base, the Company's
ability to develop additional and leverage its existing distribution
channels for its products and solutions, dependence on strategic
and channel partners including their ability to distribute the Company's
products and meet or renew their financial commitments, the Company's
ability to address international markets, the effectiveness of the
Company's sales and marketing activities, the acceptance of the
Company's products in the marketplace, the timing and scope of deployments
of the Company's products by customers, fluctuations in customer
sales cycles, customers' ability to obtain additional funding, technical
difficulties with respect to the Company's products or products
in development, the need for ongoing product development in an environment
of rapid technological change, the emergence of new competitors
in the marketplace, the Company's ability to compete successfully
against established competitors with greater resources, the uncertainty
of future governmental regulation, the Company's ability to manage
growth, obtain patent protection, and obtain additional funds, general
economic conditions and other risks discussed in this Report and
in the Company's other filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. All forward-looking statements and risk factors included
in this document are made as of the date hereof, based on information
available to the Company as of the date thereof, and the Company
assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement or
risk factors.
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