Message #48 From:
NewsBot Date: September 27, 2006 04:00:00 AM
IBAS News Telecom Georgia Selects iBasis for Global VoIP Services
BURLINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--iBasis, Inc. (NASDAQ: IBAS), the global VoIP company(TM), today
announced that Telecom Georgia, the national carrier of Georgia and one
of the most important telecommunications companies in the CIS, has
interconnected with iBasis to exchange international voice traffic. The
interconnection enables Telecom Georgia to route international calls
from Georgia to The iBasis Network(TM), as well as complete calls for
iBasis over Telecom Georgia's network in Georgia.
Telecom Georgia benefits immediately from the large volume of traffic
iBasis is able to carry to Georgia for termination, which is an
important source of revenue for national carriers. In addition, by using
iBasis' DirectVoIP(TM) service, Telecom Georgia has quickly established
a direct IP interconnection with the iBasis global VoIP network in
Georgia which enables it to offer competitive international calling
services to its customers with almost no additional capital investment.
Telecom Georgia benefits from the lower capital and operational costs of
the iBasis VoIP infrastructure and has immediate access to its global
footprint, which comprises more than 1,000 direct routes in more than
100 on-net countries.
"Due to its strategic location, Georgia is in the process of becoming a
telecommunication hub integral to regional and global economic
development," said Otar Zumburidze, Director General of Telecom Georgia.
"Telecom Georgia is playing a key role in providing faster and greater
access to communication services for the 4.7 million Georgian
inhabitants. In the growing competitive environment, iBasis is helping
us to deliver affordable and high quality service to a larger customer
base."
"The Georgian telecommunication market has significant development
potential," said Ofer Gneezy, president and CEO of iBasis. "We are very
pleased to achieve this interconnection with Telecom Georgia as it is
one of the leading carriers in the CIS region, and is very effective in
expanding from local and regional service into international long
distance, Internet, and broadband services."
iBasis carries more than 18% of all international VoIP traffic and is
one of the world's largest carriers of international telephone calls(1).
Telecom Georgia joins iBasis' growing customer base of more than 450
carriers worldwide, who rely on iBasis to complete their international
calls over the company's global VoIP network and to provide a reliable
and growing source of inbound traffic from which they derive termination
revenue.
According to the ITU's world telecommunication indicators, Georgia is
ranked third in the CIS in quantity of telephone communication
subscribers per 100 residents, preceded only by Russia and Ukraine,
ranked second in the ratio of mobile telephone users per 100 residents,
and ranked third in the number of Internet users per 10,000 residents.
About Telecom Georgia
Telecom Georgia the International and Long Distance Telecommunication
Company - was established in 1994. The mission of the Company is to
provide customers with International and Intercity telephone
connections. Telecom Georgia has its own telephone network capacity.
Customers are provided with a full range of services, including Internet
access, and ISDN. The Company provides other network operators with
reliable transit services through Tbilisi -
Gori-Zestaphoni-Kutaisi-Senaki-Poti route via the local microwave link.
International connections are made via Intelsat, Turksat and fiber-optic
facilities. Telecom Georgia Ltd. has direct connections with major
international operators. At present the Company holds 35% of the
Georgian International and Intercity Telecommunications Market.
About iBasis
Founded in 1996, iBasis (NASDAQ: IBAS) is a leading wholesale carrier of
international long distance telephone calls and a provider of retail
prepaid calling services, including the Pingo(R) web-based offering (www.pingo.com)
and disposable calling cards that are sold through major distributors
and available at retail stores throughout the U.S. iBasis customers
include many of the largest telecommunications carriers, including AT&T,
Verizon, China Mobile, China Unicom, IDT, Qwest, Skype, Telecom Italia,
and Telefonica. iBasis carried 7.8 billion minutes of international
voice over IP (VoIP) traffic in 2005, and is one of the largest carriers
of international voice traffic in the world(2). The Company can be
reached at its worldwide headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts, USA
at 781-505-7500 or on the Internet at www.ibasis.com.
iBasis and Pingo are registered marks, and the global VoIP company and
The iBasis Network are trademarks of iBasis, Inc. All other trademarks
are the property of their respective owners.
Except for historical information, all of the expectations, plans and
assumptions contained in the foregoing press release, including those
relating to the Company's anticipated revenue, earnings per share and
capital expenditures, constitute forward-looking statements under
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and involve risks and
uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to
differ materially from such forward-looking statements include, but are
not limited to, (i) the Company's ability to execute its business plan;
(ii) the extent of adoption of the Company's services and the timing and
amount of revenue and gross profit generated by these services; (iii)
fluctuations in the market for and pricing of these services; (iv) the
success of the Company's plans to contest the FCC ruling on prepaid
calling cards; and (v) the other factors described in the Company's
Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for its most recently completed fiscal
quarter and Annual Report on Form 10-K for its most recently completed
fiscal year all of which are available at www.sec.gov.
Such forward-looking statements are only as of the date they are made,
and we have no current intention to update any forward-looking
statements.
(1) Based on Telegeography 2006 and company traffic data.
(2) Telegeography 2006 data compared with iBasis 2005 traffic volume.
