NEWARK, N.J. & LUQUILLO, Puerto Rico--May 24,
2004--Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico, Inc. ("Liberty") today
announced the launch of residential telephony service to its customers
using Net2Phone's (NASDAQ: NTOP) fully managed end-to-end cable VoIP
service. Beginning today, "Liberty VoiceLinks" phone service will now
be available to nearly 300,000 homes passed in Liberty's franchise
footprint.
Liberty Voice Links is the first service in Puerto Rico that
provides residential phone service through cable TV lines using Voice
over IP (VoIP) technology. The service provides an alternative to
conventional telephone service allowing customers to make and receive
calls to or from any phone around the world in a similar manner to
traditional residential phones. VoIP technology allows the customer to
benefit from savings compared to the cost of their current phone
service, and allows them to use the phone, surf the Internet and watch
cable TV services simultaneously without interruptions.
Liberty and Net2Phone will host a conference call today at 1:00PM
Eastern Daylight Time to discuss the launch details. The call can be
accessed via the Net2Phone home page at www.net2phone.com.
"We are thrilled to give our customers a true affordable choice
for all forms of communication - voice, video and Internet access in
one bundled package," said Jose Alegria, General Manager of Liberty
Cablevision of Puerto Rico. "Prior to our launch there were limited
choices for customers in Puerto Rico for their communications
services. With the roll out of VoiceLinks, customers who sign up for
our complete bundled package can save more than $60 a month on their
combined voice, video and data services. We look forward to continuing
to provide additional value to our customers at affordable prices."
Liberty Cablevision is offering its subscribers a choice of five
calling plans, with packages starting at $24.95 per month, which
includes unlimited local calling and 911 service, discounted long
distance calling and 16 premium features at no additional cost. The
full-footprint launch comes on the heels of a 1,000-subscriber
controlled introduction, where an independent consumer's study
rendered a 96% level of customer's satisfaction in quality of service
and product offering.
"Liberty's telephony rollout across Puerto Rico is a testament to
the benefits and success of a hosted telephony solution," said Stephen
Greenberg. "Net2Phone's solutions have now been selected by six cable
operators in five countries, representing more than 2.3 million homes
passed. There is now a groundswell of cable operators that are
beginning to make the decision to outsource telephony, and many
believe that we are well situated to provide incremental value as a
hosted telephony partner and enabler for these operators."
Net2Phone's cable voice platform permits cable operators such as
Liberty Cablevision to deploy telephony services easily via a fully
outsourced solution, thereby enabling them to offer quality telephony
services to their customers, reduce churn, generate incremental
revenue and keep CapEx and operating expenses at a minimum.
Under the terms of the original six-year agreement, Liberty
Cablevision maintains ownership of the customer, service brand, and
Tier I customer and technical support, while Net2Phone supports the
back office platform, switching and transport, ongoing operations and
Tier II+ technical support to deliver a fully managed QoS IP solution.
Net2Phone tracks and monitors voice quality and network performance
metrics from start to finish and provides the cable operator with a
full view into telephone calls routed over its network. Consumers
benefit on two fronts: inexpensive stand alone telephony when compared
against traditional phone service and savings derived from the video,
data and voice triple play in cable TV, high-speed Internet access and
telephone services.
About Net2Phone
Net2Phone provides PacketCable, SIP and wireless VoIP solutions
around 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 of 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.
About Liberty Cablevision
Liberty Cablevision of Puerto Rico, Inc. is a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation (NYSE: L - News, LMC.B - News). Liberty
Cablevision passes approximately 310,000 homes and serves
approximately 120,000 customers in 37 municipalities principally
located in the Eastern, Central and Northern regions of the island of
Puerto Rico. In the second quarter of 2002, the company launched the
first fully interactive television service on the island, as well as
high-speed data access through cable modems.
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and
Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These
forward- looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and actual
results could differ materially from those discussed in the
forward-looking statements. For this purpose, any statements contained
in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may
be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Factors which may affect
the Company's results include, but are not limited to, the Company's
ability to expand its customer base, the Company's ability to develop
additional and leverage its existing distribution channels for its
products and solutions, dependence on strategic and channel partners
including their ability to distribute the Company's products and meet
or renew their financial commitments, the Company's ability to address
international markets, the effectiveness of the Company's sales and
marketing activities, the acceptance of the Company's products in the
marketplace, the timing and scope of deployments of the Company's
products by customers, fluctuations in customer sales cycles,
customers' ability to obtain additional funding, technical
difficulties with respect to the Company's products or products in
development, the need for ongoing product development in an
environment of rapid technological change, the emergence of new
competitors in the marketplace, the Company's ability to compete
successfully against established competitors with greater resources,
the uncertainty of future governmental regulation, the Company's
ability to manage growth, obtain patent protection, and obtain
additional funds, general economic conditions and other risks
discussed in this press release and in the Company's filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements and
risk factors included in this document are made as of the date hereof,
based on information available to the Company as of the date thereof,
and the Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking
statement or risk factors.