Back to press releasesNewark, NJ, March 11, 2004 – IDT Corporation today announced that it has been selected by AOL® Latino as its online phone card provider. The agreement marks the first time that AOL Latino has offered phone cards to its members. AOL Latino, a subsidiary of AOL, is the leading Internet service provider for U.S. Hispanics. IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT, IDT.C) is a multinational carrier, telephone and technology company.
According to the terms of the agreement, AOL Latino members can choose from three virtual phone cards, Conexion Latina, Raices Latinas, and Latino Plus, each designed to answer a specific calling preference. All three cards have extremely low per minute rates and can be purchased by credit card. Members who buy a card will get an email with an account PIN number they can use to make calls to any country and will have the option to automatically recharge the PIN whenever it falls below a pre-set amount.
“AOL Latino and IDT share a commitment to serving the Hispanic community with Spanish language products and services that provide consumers with the tools they need to succeed,” said Jim Courter, IDT’s CEO. “AOL Latino brings its members the Internet. Now, IDT has joined with AOL to give Latino consumers domestic and international long distance phone service at warehouse club rates, without the lines.”
According to a U.S. Department of Commerce study, as of July 1, 2002 the U.S Hispanic Population numbered 38.8 million, making Hispanics the nation’s largest minority group. Based upon published reports Hispanic buying power is now estimated to be about 600 billion dollars annually an increase of over 300 billion dollars from fours years earlier. As a group, Hispanics utilize phone cards on a regular basis. A recent AOL/Roper ASW survey found that 40% of Hispanics have purchased prepaid calling cards in the past six months to make calls outside the U.S.
“AOL Latino’s partnership with IDT provides a tremendous value to our AOL Latino members, potentially saving them a substantial amount of money each year,” said David Wellisch, Vice President and General Manager of AOL Latino. “Latinos are heavy users of pre-paid cards, and we are able to leverage our relationship with IDT and our substantial online Hispanic community to offer these steep discounts. This service also offers an additional incentive for Hispanics to come online and begin taking advantage of the convenience that the Internet provides.”
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 prepaid calling cards. 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 Solutions brand, is the IDT subsidiary focused on providing broadband and telephony services to commercial and governmental customers through a fixed-wireless and fiber infrastructure. Net2Phone, Inc., a subsidiary of IDT Corporation, is a leading provider of high-quality global retail Voice over IP services and offers a fully outsourced cable telephony service to cable operators allowing cable operators to provide residential phone service to their subscribers. Liberty Media Corporation holds a 5% stake in IDT Telecom and also owns 5.6% stakes in IDT Entertainment and IDT Media.
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.
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.
