Back to press releasesNewark, N.J., April 22, 2004 – IDT Corporation today announced plans to deploy the first commercial WiFi phone service in the US. IDT’s WiFi phone service will allow users to bypass local phone companies and make domestic and international phone calls via a wireless connection to the internet. IDT plans to initially roll out the WiFi service in select areas of the Ironbound section of Newark, New Jersey. This initial deployment will provide research to help IDT develop the new service as it is rolled out in other areas. The new phone service will utilize Net2Phone’s innovative Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) platform. IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT, IDT. C), is a multinational carrier, telephone and technology company. In its April 5th issue, Fortune magazine placed IDT 746th in its ranking of America’s top 1000 companies. Based upon results from last quarter IDT has an annualized revenue rate of more than $2 billion.
“IDT is opening up the next frontier in telecommunications,” said Howard Jonas, Chairman of IDT Corp. “By combining WiFi wireless technology with IDT’s global telecommunications network and retail distribution, Net2Phone’s VoIP platform and the fixed wireless infrastructure of IDT Business Services (Winstar), IDT is providing residential consumers with a more affordable and flexible phone service.”
WiFi phone customers will not need their own expensive broadband connection to access the service. IDT will provide wide area WiFi coverage in the targeted neighborhoods. Calls will be routed via Net2Phone’s VoIP platform, and terminated by IDT’s worldwide telecommunications network and infrastructure. IDT Business Services’ (Winstar) fixed wireless network will provide backhaul services for the traffic. IDT is currently deploying its initial network and expects to begin service in Newark within 30-60 days.
“While many are still talking about WiFi phone service, IDT is making it a reality,” said Jim Courter, IDT’s CEO. “IDT is bringing the first commercial WiFi phone service into the marketplace. Not only have we found a profitable application for WiFi, but we’re creating a new industry within telecommunications that can provide basic phone service for a fraction of the cost of traditional phone service.”
IDT’s network is being designed to be compatible with advances in wireless technology. IDT’s WiFi customers will benefit from a seamless transition to WiMax service as that technology matures and becomes more widespread.
“Net2Phone pioneered VoIP,” said Stephen Greenberg, CEO of Net2Phone. “Now, together with IDT, we are launching the next generation in telecom. With IDT’s reach and infrastructure expertise and Net2Phone’s innovative VoIP platform, we are well positioned to ride the burgeoning WiFi network explosion to offer consumers and businesses affordable telephony services.”
“Companies like IDT have led the renaissance of Newark,” said the Honorable Sharpe James, Mayor of the City of Newark. “Believe it or not, there are still people in America who cannot afford basic home phone service. Now IDT is using its technology to bridge the “telecommunications divide.” Because of IDT, Newark becomes the first city in America where affordable WiFi phone service will be commercially available.”
About IDT
IDT Corporation, through its IDT Telecom subsidiary, is a facilities-based, multinational carrier that provides a broad range of telecommunications services to retail and wholesale customers worldwide. IDT Telecom, by means of its own national telecommunications backbone and fiber optic network infrastructure, provides its customers with integrated and competitively priced international and domestic long distance and domestic all-distance telephony and calling cards. In the US alone IDT sells more than 20 million calling cards a month in over 250,000 retail locations nationwide. IDT Entertainment is the IDT subsidiary focused on developing, acquiring, producing and distributing computer-generated and traditionally animated productions and other productions for the film, broadcast and direct-to-consumer markets. IDT Media is the IDT subsidiary principally responsible for the Company’s initiatives in radio broadcasting, brochure distribution and new video technologies. Winstar Holdings, LLC, which provides service under the IDT Business Services brand, is the IDT subsidiary focused on providing broadband and telephony services to commercial and governmental customers through a fixed-wireless and fiber infrastructure.
IDT Corporation’s Class B Common Stock and Common Stock trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbols IDT and IDT.C, respectively.
About Net2Phone
Net2Phone, a subsidiary of IDT Corporation, is the only provider of PacketCable, SIP and wireless VoIP solutions in the world. As leaders in enabling telecom service providers and cable operators with turn-key hosted VoIP telephony services, Net2Phone has routed billions of retail VoIP minutes globally, servicing more than 100,000 users in the US as well as hundreds of thousands more overseas. Net2Phone’s hosted SIP platform provides partners with residential broadband telephony, calling cards, prefix dialing and enterprise services in over 100 countries. Net2Phone’s PacketCable platform provides cable operators with the ability to deliver a primary line replacement service with guaranteed QoS and features such as E911. 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.
Important Note: In this press release, all statements that are not purely about historical facts, including, but not limited to, those in which the words “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “plan,” “intend,” “estimate, “target” and similar expressions, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 are used. While these forward-looking statements represent IDT’s current judgment of what may happen in the future, actual results may differ materially from the results expressed or implied by these statements due to numerous important factors, including, but not limited to, those described in IDT’s most recent report on SEC Form 10-K (under the heading “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”), which may be revised or supplemented in subsequent reports on SEC Forms 10-Q and 8-K and other filings IDT may make with the SEC.
