Coditel Belgium, Coditel Luxembourg and Est Videocommunication in France, just struck a deal with Net2Phone (news - alert) enabling the three cable franchises to offer VoIP (define - news - alert) calling services to their more than half a million subscribers. Net2Phone expects to aid the cable operators to start offering VoIP services as soon as this year’s fourth quarter.
The cable franchises are all members of the Altice One Group. "Altice One is a great partner for Net2Phone," said Stephen Greenberg, chairman of Net2Phone. "They are led by a smart and aggressive management team that understands the value of rolling out Net2Phone's managed telephony services. The warrant program is specifically designed to accelerate subscriber enrollment and give early adopters an equity stake in Net2Phone's growth. Net2Phone's integrated, open-standards solutions give cable operators the ability to delivering the triple play and bundle voice alongside their video and Internet offerings, delivering entertainment, information and communications services to consumers."
"We are very excited for our upcoming European VoIP launches, starting with Luxembourg and Brussels in the 4th quarter of 2004,” stated Patrick Drahi, CEO of Altice One. “Net2Phone allows us to deliver the highest quality service to our customers and the warrant program certainly creates an incentive for us and Net2Phone to jointly drive subscriber penetration. This also gives us the opportunity to share in Net2Phone's successes as it delivers its compelling offer to other operators in Europe and elsewhere."
In related news, Net2Phone announced it introduced a warrant incentive program, allowing selected cable operators to earn warrants to purchase shares of Net2Phone common stock. The company’s Board of Directors reserved up to five million shares for issuance under this plan. The execution of definitive agreements with cable operators that meet specific criteria will trigger warrant grants, which become exercisable as the cable operator reaches target telephony subscriber levels. The Altice One group has opted to join the warrant program.
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www.net2phone.com
Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet.com and Internet Telephony magazine. Previously, she was
assistant editor for EContent magazine in Connecticut. She
can be reached by e-mail at [email protected]. |
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