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Net2Phone
and Lanka Bell to Offer Calling Cards in Sri Lanka
Partnership Leverages Flexibility of NGS Platform to Easily Implement
Low Cost, High Quality Telephony Services
Newark, NJ and Sri Lanka - October 16, 2003 - Net2Phone Global
Services (NGS), LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Net2Phone, Inc.
(Nasdaq: NTOP), the leading provider of retail Voice over IP (VoIP)
services, and Lanka Bell Private Ltd., a leading telecommunications
provider in Sri Lanka, today announced that they have signed an
agreement to market Net2Phones VoIP calling cards in Sri Lanka
using Net2Phones value added VoIP platform. The agreement
builds on the flexibility of Net2Phone Global Services hosted
platform to deliver multiple VoIP products and services at a low
cost to providers.
Under the agreement, Net2Phone will be the hosted service provider
for Lanka Bells calling cards, which will be distributed throughout
Sri Lanka. The international calling cards, branded as Net2Phone,
will be targeted to those making calls to the Middle Middle East,
India, UK Europe and US. Lanka Bell will advertise the Net2Phone
Calling Cards throughout Sri Lanka via direct mail campaigns, print
advertising and billboards. Pictures of the calling cards can be
found at http://www.net2phone.com/partnerships/callingcard/lankabell.
Our focus is to leverage our scalable platform to quickly
offer competitive, efficient telephony products and services,
said Bryan Wiener, President of Net2Phone Global Services. This
relationship allows us to draw on Lanka Bells distribution
channels and knowledge of the competitive telecommunications landscape
in Sri Lanka while continuing to build Net2Phones brand equity
in the Indian subcontinent.
This relationship with Lanka Bell builds on Net2Phone Global Services
strategy to offer hosted telecommunications solutions to partners
globally, enabling them to offer low-cost VoIP services to their
customers quickly, easily and at a low incremental cost. As a hosted
provider, Net2Phone leverages its centrally managed platform to
empower its partners with the tools they need to offer consumer
and corporate customers a full suite of telecommunications services,
including calling cards, corporate solutions, VoIP services for
Internet cafes and public call centers, and prefix code dialing
services.
This partnership with Net2Phone is ideal for us in many ways
as our two companies are very complementary to one another,
said Joey V. Mendoza, Managing Director & CEO of Lanka Bell.
As a local provider, we are directly connected to customers
and understand their telecommunications needs. This allows us to
roll out new profitable services in the marketplace which take advantage
of Net2Phones central platform, robust international network
and brand name to offer a high-quality low-cost alternative to the
incumbent.
Consumers will be offered several different calling cards designed
to specifically address the needs of various consumers in the market.
Cards will target customers who call the United States and Western
Europe, those who call mostly to the Indian Sub Continent, and for
those customers who call the Middle East. The agreement also calls
for future plans to introduce additional prepaid services, including
calling cards for use outside of Sri Lanka. The companies are working
together to establish a Net2Phone Point of Presence (POP) in Sri
Lanka, which will route Net2Phone minutes out of Sri Lanka.
Net2Phone Global Services enables partners to expedite their time
to market while benefiting from outsourcing their deployments to
a provider that has the technical expertise, robust back-office
and worldwide network to support multiple services on a single platform.
Net2Phone helps reduce partners capex and opex by managing
all the back office billing, account generation, rating, routing
and provisioning, while partners are responsible for sales, marketing,
first level customer support and distribution.
About NGS
Over the past eight years, Net2Phone Global Services (NGS) has evolved
from a low-cost provider of PC-based calling services to a next-generation
provider of voice and enhanced services to businesses and consumers
either directly or via a partner. While access points vary, NGS
products and services all leverage the same centrally managed platform,
delivering quality telecommunications services over an IP network
while enabling partners to minimize expenses and expedite time to
market.
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 VoIP solutions globally
and (2) Net2Phone Cable Telephony, which has developed a fully outsourced
standards-compliant telephony solution for cable operators. 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
<http://www.net2phone.com>.
About Lanka Bell
Lanka Bell Private Limited has been operating in Sri Lanka since
1997. Its primary investors are MIEL Investment Corp.(Holding company
of Transmarco- Singapore), Nortel Networks, Trans Asia Telecom of
Singapore and the Asian Infrastructure Development Corporation-Japan.
Lanka Bells state-of-the-art digital network in Sri Lanka
is the first of its kind in this region of Asia..
Since its inception, Lanka Bell has introduced a range of attractive
new services such as BellSat (satellite service), BellBurst (broadband
dedicated data access service), BellNet (Internet service), BellWorks
(24-hour maintenance service), E-Billing (customer billing on the
Internet), Mini Bell Centers (cyber café outlets), etc. Lanka
Bells prepaid IDD card service, BellKard, has remained very
popular among its large subscriber base.
For more information about Lanka Bell and its products and
services, please visit www.lankabell.net
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 fact.
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