
|
 |
 |
Net2Phone
Partners with Afsat to Provide VoIP Satellite Services in Africa
Capitalizes on Relationship with Hughes Network Systems
Newark, NJ and Nairobi, Kenya, October 13, 2003 - Net2Phone Global
Services (NGS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Net2Phone, Inc. (NASDAQ:
NTOP), a leading provider of retail Voice over IP (VoIP) services,
today announced that it has partnered with Afsat Communications
Ltd., the largest provider of satellite IP in sub-Saharan Africa,
to provide Afsat customers, such as businesses and calling centers,
with low-cost VoIP phone calls utilizing satellite broadband.
Under this exclusive relationship, Afsat is offering its 200 local
operators and 300 corporate customers a complete satellite VoIP
package. This unique offering is based on Hughes Network Systems
market leading DIRECWAY® broadband satellite service, together
with its DW6000 broadband satellite terminal and the DW6040 Voice
Appliance. Net2Phones VoIP interface is integrated into the
DW6040, thereby optimizing voice quality when operating over Net2Phones
system. The service offering is tailored to the corporate market
with a suite of applications, including but not limited to calling
cards and solutions for call centers. The quality of these phone
calls is superior to traditional satellite telephony due to a bandwidth
reservation system implemented by Net2Phone and HNS, which allocates
prioritization to voice packets over Internet data.
Demand for satellite broadband connectivity is growing worldwide,
and is especially popular in markets such as Africa, where terrestrial
telephony and Internet infrastructure is limited or non-existent
and phone calling is cost prohibitive. Adding a new layer of infrastructure
through satellite broadband extends the reach of telecommunications
in Africa, expanding the opportunity for telecom penetration and
opening up new opportunities in new markets.
Net2Phones turn-key telephony solution enables Afsat
to focus its efforts on providing an attractive bundle of high-speed
data and voice services, said Salim Suleman, Managing Director
of Afsat. This offering fills a huge void that we have in
the African telecommunications market - affordable quality phone
service.
This partnership builds on Net2Phone Global Services strategy
to offer value-added hosted telecommunications solutions to partners
like Afsat, enabling them to offer low-cost VoIP services to their
corporate customers quickly, easily and at a low incremental cost.
Adding voice services to bandwidth providers offerings
such as Afsats, presents a full suite of solutions to meet
the corporate customers needs, said Yonah Lloyd, Vice
President of International Marketing and Business Development at
Net2Phone. Afsats robust distribution channel throughout
sub-Saharan Africa will help bring high-quality, low-cost services
to an underserved region.
Satellite broadband service providers, who use HNS technology,
now have the ability to bundle broadband data services with high-quality
voice service for their subscribers, in an even more attractive
package, said Matthew Mohebbi, Vice President of International
Sales and Marketing at HNS.
About Afsat Communications Ltd.
AFSAT Communications, Ltd. is a privately owned company. The majority
shareholder is the Modern Africa Fund Managers, an OPIC-backed venture
capital fund of US $105 million fully invested in African companies.
Two other shareholders are the Wilken Group and Milas Ltd. Afsat
is currently the largest VSAT operator in Africa and has been in
operation as a private company since 1994. Its customers include
ABSA, Barclays, Standard and CRBD banks, Pricewaterhouse Coopers,
and 700 other VSAT users. At present Afsat covers 17 countries in
Africa in cooperation with local subsidiaries and partners to provide
local sales and product support. Afsat pioneered the use of VSAT
networks in East Africa and manages their services from Nairobi,
Kenya.
About Hughes Network Systems
Hughes Network Systems, Inc. (HNS), a wholly owned subsidiary of
Hughes Electronics Corporation (HUGHES), is the world's leading
provider of broadband satellite network solutions for businesses
and consumers, with more than 600,000 systems ordered or shipped
to customers in 85 countries. HNS pioneered the development of high-speed
satellite Internet access services, which it markets globally under
the DIRECWAY® brand. In addition, HNS is a leading manufacturer
of DIRECTV® satellite television receivers, having shipped more
than 12 million to date. Headquartered outside Washington, D.C.,
in Germantown, Maryland, USA, HNS maintains sales and support offices
worldwide. The earnings of HUGHES, a unit of General Motors Corporation,
are used to calculate the earnings attributable to the General Motors
Class H common stock (NYSE: GMH). To learn more about HNS, please
visit www.hns.com <http://www.hns.com>.
About Net2Phone
Founded in 1995, Net2Phone is a leading provider of voice services
over IP networks worldwide, enabling toll-quality calls between
computers, telephones, and broadband devices. 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 are (1)
Net2Phone Global Services, which sells retail and small business
VoIP solutions globally and (2) Net2Phone Cable Telephony, 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)
and IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT; IDT.C). For more information about
Net2Phone's products and services, please visit www.net2phone.com.
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.
HUGHES, Hughes Network Systems and DIRECWAY are trademarks of Hughes
Electronics Corporation. Other trademarks are the property of their
respective owners.
|
 |
 |