Back to press releasesNEWARK, N.J., January 22, 2003 — IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT.B, IDT), a multinational carrier, telephone and technology company, announced today a one-year guarantee of its 5-cents-a-minute rate on US domestic long distance telephone service. This means the company will not raise the 5-cent state-to-state rate on US domestic long distance throughout 2003.
“Most of the major US domestic long distance providers have announced rate increases. We do not believe in monopolistic style rate increases. IDT will not follow the herd. I believe that real competition is good for the consumer, good for the American economy and good for IDT.” said Howard Jonas, IDT Chairman. “We believe providing more affordable telecommunications to our customers and growing our market share is in IDT’s and the consumer’s best interest, rather than simply grabbing extra revenue in the short term.”
In addition to the one-year price guarantee, the company will also continue to offer customers IDT’s highly competitive international calling rates.
“At IDT, we are not really contrarian, but we do march to the beat of our own balance sheet, which is virtually debt free. The other major US telecommunications companies are carrying a combined debt load in the hundreds of billions. So when they are forced to raise their long distance rates, we do not have to follow,” said Jim Courter, IDT’s CEO. “With IDT, customers just pay for their phone service, and not the extra needed to cover a company’s debt service.”
“IDT Telecom is well positioned for growth and prosperity. We continue to look for new ways to improve our cost structure so we can continue to provide our customers with the most economical and highest quality services that they have to come to expect from IDT,” said Motti Lichtenstein, IDT Telecom’s CEO.
In October 2002, IDT’s consumer long distance service was given the “thumbs up,” the highest ranking given by The Wall Street Journal, in its independent survey of cellular and long distance telephone companies. In the survey of long distance carriers, which reviewed all the major carriers, including MCI, Sprint, AT&T and Verizon, IDT received the best overall ratings.
And on November 22, 2002, IDT announced that it had moved up to number 44 in the Business Week Info Tech 100, a ranking of the top technology companies in the world based on their performance over the past 12 months.
On January 9, 2003, IDT announced that it is changing its New York Stock Exchange ticker symbols. Effective February 26, IDT’s common stock will trade under the symbol IDT.C. Effective March 19, IDT’s Class B common stock will trade under the symbol IDT.
IDT Corporation, through its IDT Telecom subsidiary, is a facilities-based, multinational carrier that provides a broad range of telecommunications services to its 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 telephony and prepaid calling cards. IDT and Liberty Media Corporation own 95% and 5 % of IDT Telecom, respectively. IDT Media is the IDT subsidiary principally responsible for the Company’s initiatives in media, new video technologies and print media.
Through its various subsidiaries, IDT has interests in several telecom, Internet-related and media companies. IDT acquired the assets of Winstar Communications in December 2001. IDT Corporation common shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbols IDT.B and IDT. As of December 12, 2002, there were about 54.1 million shares of Class B common stock (IDT.B) outstanding, and about 25.0 million shares of common stock (IDT). Of these, approximately 4.0 million shares of Class B common stock and approximately 5.4 million shares of common stock were held by IDT Corporation.
In this press release, all statements that are not purely about historical facts, including, but not limited to, those in which we use 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. While these forward-looking statements represent our 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 our 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. These factors include, but are not limited to, the following: potential declines in prices for our products and services; our ability to maintain and grow our retail telecommunications services, particularly our prepaid calling card business; availability of termination capacity; financial stability of our customers; our ability to maintain carrier agreements with foreign carriers; effectiveness of our marketing and distribution efforts; increased competition, particularly from regional bell operating companies; our ability to manage our growth; competitiveness of our Winstar subsidiary; impact of government regulation; our ability to obtain telecommunications products or services required for our products and services; and general economic conditions, particularly in the telecommunications markets. We are under no obligation, and expressly disclaim any obligation, to update the forward-looking statements in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
