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Net2Phone
and Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico to Roll Out VoIP Telephony
Across System
Marks Cable Industrys First Fully Outsourced Managed VoIP
Telephony Deployment for Replacement Line Service
Newark, NJ and Luquillo, Puerto Rico - October 22, 2003 - Net2Phone,
Inc. (Nasdaq: NTOP) and Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico, Inc.
today announced an agreement to offer residential telephony service
to Liberty Cablevisions customers using Net2Phones fully
managed end-to-end IP telephony service over Liberty Cablevisions
HFC cable network. A commercial launch of these telephony services
is intended to follow the completion of a successful 12-month market
trial in several of Liberty Cablevisions service areas. Liberty
Cablevision expects to begin marketing this service on a broader
basis early next year.
The introduction of telephony, when combined with our existing
video and high-speed Internet services, gives our customers the
choice of enjoying a bundle of high quality and highly reliable
broadband services at attractive prices, said Jose Alegria,
General Manager of Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico. Our
initial trials with Net2Phone have exceeded our expectations, and
we are very excited about the opportunity to introduce VoIP technology
to Puerto Rico and our customers.
Liberty Cablevision will offer its subscribers two billing plan
options under its Liberty Voice Links telephony service:
a variable, per minute Every Day plan and a flat monthly
rate Celebrity plan. Both options include all available
features, such as call waiting, caller ID, directory assistance,
911, as well as unlimited local calling. During this phase of the
trial, customers have been generating an average of 1,100 minutes
of use per month, which is in line with usage experienced on a primary
line service in Puerto Rico.
Since we began our relationship with Liberty Cablevision,
we viewed a broad rollout of these services as the natural outcome
of a partnership with clear benefits to both parties. We are thrilled
to have reached that point today. Importantly, the ability to perfect
our solution in Puerto Rico has been a key factor to our entering
discussions and building relationships with other cable operators,
said Stephen Greenberg, CEO of Net2Phone. Our value proposition
has clearly proven itself here, and is resonating with other cable
operators who want to deploy telephony services without the hassle
or capex usually associated with a new revenue generating unit.
This is a move likely to accelerate the cable industrys increasing
interest in VoIP-enabled telephony services, and the likelihood
of outsourcing such services.
This offering allows Liberty Cablevision to expand utilization
of its network capacity on a cost effective basis. Net2Phones
cable voice platform permits cable operators such as Liberty Cablevision
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.
Under the terms of the agreement, Liberty Cablevision 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 the cable operator with a full view
into telephone calls routed over its network. Consumers benefit
on two fronts: inexpensive stand alone telephony when compared against
traditional phone service and savings derived from the video, data
and voice triple play in cable TV, high-speed Internet access and
telephone services.
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, 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: L; 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 Liberty Cablevision
Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary
of Liberty Media Corporation (NYSE: L, LMC.B). Liberty Cablevision
passes approximately 310,000 homes and serves approximately 120,000
customers in 37 municipalities principally located in the Eastern,
Central and Northern regions of the island of Puerto Rico. In the
second quarter of 2002, the company launched the first fully interactive
television service on the island, as well as high-speed data access
through cable modems.
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 factor.
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