Phone Plus Prepaid: Channel News

Posted: 9/2003

Channel News

Virgin Signs New Distributors, Launches Brand Campaign

Virgin Mobile USA LLC has announced partnerships with four
prepaid wireless phone card distributors, CellCards, GTS Prepaid, PRE Solutions
Inc. and Interactive Communications Inc. The move expands availability of the
companys Top-Up airtime replenishment cards to at least 25,000 retail
locations. In June, the Virgin Mobile kicked off a new brand-awareness campaign.

The broad availability of our Top-Up cards is critical to
providing an outstanding level of customer service, which is a top goal for
everyone at Virgin Mobile, says Dan Schulman, CEO of Virgin Mobile USA. We
want to make accessing our products and services as convenient for our customers
as possible. These four new distributor partners are well-established and
respected in this space, and are going to help us ensure that we are exactly
where our customers want us to be.

Virgin Mobile USA also recently announced the cards are
available in nearly 800 Hess gas station stores and CVS drug stores.

The new marketing campaign, tagged Live Without a Plan,
offers a spirited, satirical look at issues that continue to drive
dissatisfaction among many wireless customers, says the company. In one
60-second spot, the limitations of contract plans and the power big carriers
exert over customers are juxtaposed with the freedom, choice and control offered
by Virgin Mobile USAs pay-as-you-go alternative.

The prepaid wireless offering, a joint venture of Sprint Corp.
and Virgin Mobile targets the youth market. It costs 25 cents per minute for the
first 10 minutes of each day and 10 cents for every minute thereafter. Top-Up
cards are available in $20, $30 and $50 denominations. All phones come equipped
with a unique suite of content called VirginXtras, tailored to youth interests
and lifestyles. VirginXtras includes features like Rescue Ring, which lets users
preset their phone to get out of a sticky situation; and Hit List, which lets
users listen to and vote on new music and games. VirginXtras also features
exclusives from MTV and VH1 and content from Nickelodeon.

Deltacom Offers Distributors e-Commerce Sites

Deltacom Networks Inc. (Deltacom.NET) now offers to host its
phone card distributors private-labeled e-commerce Web sites for the instant
delivery via e-mail of PINs to end users. Each Deltacom.NET distributor will have an individual Web
address of its choosing.

To create the Web sites, Deltacom.NET uses Microsoft Corp.s
.NET platform, coupled with active server pages, a programming language for
information management. This configuration also is combined with VeriSign Inc.s
secure socket layer technology for security. Deltacom.NETs suite of
management and client interaction tools is built into distributors Web
stores. Distributors will define the look and feel of the sites, products
offered, client interaction and advertising programs. Deltacom.NET says theres
no coding to learn, no hardware to buy and no special computer or Internet
knowledge required. Deltacom.NET charges distributors a monthly fee for hosting,
the security certificate and Web maintenance.

Each distributors Web site is integrated with Deltacom.NETs
network. PINs are activated automatically on Deltacom.NETs switch
platforms as they are sold through a distributors Web storefront and the
activity is attributed to the individual distributors account.

Distributors can direct traffic to their Web sites with search
engine indexing, click-through programs and advertising, but Deltacom.NET says
it does not include these services as part of the standard package.

Teleconex Releases New Chat Cat Residential Bundles

Teleconex has announced unlimited long-distance minutes are
included with one of its new Chat Cat prepaid residential phone service
packages. Chat Cat Unlimited costs $39.95, while Phat Cat Unlimited is $59.95.
Retailers, as agents of Teleconex, may offer these services direct to their
customers.

Chat Cat Unlimited offers unlimited local calling, 100 free
longdistance minutes, 911 and 800-number access, and the ability to make collect
calls. Phat Cat throws in the additional features of free voice mail, call
forwarding, call waiting, call return, caller ID, speed dial and call blocking.

Teleconex Chat Cat division was created to provide prepaid
local telephone service, telephone features and long-distance service to
residential customers unable to establish service with traditional local
providers.

NetPINs Expands to 2,800 Dial-up Locations

Wholesale Internet access provider i.Core Technologies Inc.
has expanded its NetPINs prepaid Internet access service to include about 2,800
local dial-up locations throughout the United States, excluding Alaska and
Hawaii. The local dial-up access points complement nationwide toll-free service
launched in February.

Like prepaid long-distance phone cards, prepaid Internet is
a huge market, said Colleen Coplick, spokeswoman for i.Core Technologies. Now, resellers can offer additional low rates to their
customers, because our new dial-up numbers allow more than 84 percent of the
U.S. population to go online with a simple prepaid card and a local call.

NetPINs helps resellers create customized and privately
labeled dialup PINs using a standard Web browser. Expanded NetPINs services in
the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific will launch
later this year.

Celluphone Reports EPINs Success

By Tara Seals

Master agent Celluphone announced at least 1,000 retailers
across California, Texas and Illinois are participating in EPINs, its system for
purchasing and loading prepaid airtime by phone or online.

EPINs, a proprietary system created by Celluphone, allows
wireless retailers to purchase prepaid airtime at the moment the customer is
ready to pay for it. This means retailers do not need to make an upfront
investment in traditional prepay cards, which may not immediately sell and are
easily stolen or lost. EPINs also alleviates the need to constantly maintain a
sufficient supply of all denominations of cards.

EPINs has four key advantages over other electronic PIN
systems, says the company. First, retailers have no need to buy, lease or rent
new equipment or terminals because any telephone or computer the retailers
already own can access the system. Secondly, EPINs allows the sales clerk to purchase Verizon
airtime and load it into the customers phone. EPINs also provides reporting
to store owners and managers that can be used to keep track of sales by each
employee, each store and overall. Finally, receipts are sent by fax on standard 8×11- inch
sheets of paper. The paper offers more space than a typical POS terminal receipt
for more complete disclaimers.

In our 20 years of business, this product has
been accepted more quickly by more dealers than any other that we have offered,
says Mike Mohr, president of Celluphone. In only eight months since its
launch, about one-third of our dealers use it every month.

Celluphone, founded in 1983, serves retailers through offices
in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Houston, Dallas, San
Antonio and Chicago. About 3,500 dealers activate subscribers through Celluphone
every month, says the company.

Nuetel Receives 214 License

Prepaid service provider and wholesaler Nuetel Telecom has
received its 214 license to operate as a facilities-based international telecom
carrier. The certificate authorizes Nuetel to provide global telecommunication
and resale services.

The 214 license completes another milestone in Nuetels
strategic operations plan for providing carrier services to the
telecommunications industry, says Larry Messinger, Nuetel president. This
new status will allow Nuetel to originate and terminate a substantial portion of
its own traffic and increase our offerings to carriers both U.S.-based and
internationally. This is part of our strategy to expand and carry our own
traffic letting us offer better priced and higher quality routes.

ALLSwitch Records Positive EBITDA

ALLSwitch LLC, a telecommunications consulting firm for the
prepaid industry, says its sales for the first quarter exceeded the first
quarter 2002 by 400 percent, with total booked sales of $850,000. ALLSwitch predicts it will exceed $4 million in sales for
2003.

ALLSwitch provides free consulting services and is compensated
by vendors it represents, including switch companies, switch software companies,
service bureaus, card printers, software programming groups, wholesale carriers,
VoIP wholesale carriers and hardware leasing companies.

Our free consulting service concept has been very well
received by the telecom and prepaid industries, says Mark Wagner, CEO. We
have been able to successfully match up clients with the proper hardware and
software solutions for their business on numerous occasions. Plus, we offer both
new and used hardware form Excel and Cisco. We are enjoying many repeat orders for Excel switches and
components, enhanced services software and Cisco routers and gateways from our
evergrowing customer database. We thank all of our customers for our success.