Phone Plus Prepaid: financial news

Posted: 09/2002

financial news

Compiled and reported by Khali
Henderson and Tara Seals

UBC Acquires Prepaid Provider

Universal
Broadband Communications Inc. (UBC) has acquired Universal Information Systems
(UIS), an international prepaid communications provider based in Tustin, Calif.
Among the assets acquired are UIS’ base of about 10,000 prepaid customers and
the company’s switching network, which includes an Excel Communications switch
in Los Angeles and a Cisco Systems Inc. 5300 router in Tehran, Iran.

"There were numerous reasons
for our acquisition of UIS," says Mark Ellis, UBC CEO. "The company’s
large customer base, coupled with its strategically located switches, will be
integral to UBC’s growth, particularly in the VoIP arena.

"UIS has done an outstanding
job penetrating the international marketplace, specifically throughout the
Persian community," he adds. "This penetration will be extremely
beneficial to UBC as we prepare for the public market."

UBC’s service offerings include
local and nationwide long-distance and data services. The company also plans to
provide new VoIP services, including 1+ dialing, 800 services and nationwide and
international calling card services. Future services may also include unified
communications, Internet offload, voice-activated e-mail and IP fax. All
services will be available in multilingual formats.

Radiant to Invest in Canada’s
Phonetime

Radiant International Holdings BV
has entered a letter of intent to make an equity investment in Phonetime Inc.
with the purchase of 10 million common shares of Phonetime for C$2.1 million.
The companies also will enter into a technology and marketing alliance,
including a commitment by Phonetime to acquire C$770,000 of technology and
telecom equipment from Radiant.

The transaction, subject to due
diligence and regulatory approval, was expected to close by the end of July
2002.

The Miami-based Radiant group of
companies includes Radiant Telecom Inc., ISS LLC, Ntera Inc. and NuMind Inc.
Radiant Telecom specializes in providing customizable end-to-end stored value
solutions to its partners in long-distance, wireless and bankcard services.
Radiant is expanding its own network by installing its technology in 60 U.S
cities and other destinations worldwide.

"We are excited about the
proposed investment and view Radiant as an important compatible strategic
partner," says Wayne Silver, president and CEO of Phonetime "A portion
of this equity investment will be used to fund the expansion of our marketing
efforts, network expansion and web initiatives. The transaction will strengthen
our balance sheet and cash position. Phonetime’s access to Radiant’s network and
technology and Radiant having access to Phonetime’s network is important for
both companies on a go-forward basis."

Matthew G. Inan, executive director,
Radiant International Holdings, says the deal furthers Radiant’s efforts to
offer end-to-end services in North America.

Phonetime, a retail and wholesale
carrier, has built one of Canada’s largest private long-distance networks into
21 major cities with plans for 11 additional cities by the end of 2003.
Phonetime also operates a call center and sells its own branded prepaid cards (NUVO,
BRAVO, Chit Chat and Call Value) in addition to providing phone cards to more
than 2,000 retail outlets. The company has offices in Toronto, Vancouver and
Montreal.

"Phonetime is well positioned
to capture a significant market share in wholesale carrier services while
further developing its prepaid product lines," Inan says. "Radiant and
Phonetime intend to share their operating and product know-how, platform
operations, PoS technologies and international network coverage in an effort to
support this vision. With Phonetime’s and Radiant’s exceptional operating
results and management teams, we believe our investment will appreciate
substantially overtime while adding value to Radiant’s own North American and
international operations."

iSoftel Acquires Amoeba Telecom

iSoftel Telecommunications Pvt Ltd.,
an India-based subsidiary of iSoftel Ltd., the developer of the iMillenia
Prepaid Postpaid Management System, announced its intent to acquire Amoeba
Telecom Ltd., a public limited telecom development company. AmoebaTel’s
shareholders include Intel Pacific Inc. and GE Capital Mauritius Equity
Investment (GE). The acquisition is part of iSoftel’s continuing strategy of
penetrating the Asia Pacific region.

"Combining voice, multimedia
and data onto one network to best fill the needs of this growing region,"
says Kevin Chia, iSoftel’s president and CEO. "The acquisition of AmoebaTel
not only will facilitate our corporate goal of penetrating the Asia Pacific, but
will bring iSoftel immense value in terms of expertise in technology — and the
Indian marketplace."

Amoeba is a developer of performance
management products for new-generation service providers. Its network appliances
give providers service metrics and management tools for VoIP network performance
and quality of service, resources and network efficiency in real-time. The
primary market for AmoebaTel’s products are core network operators, ITSPs,
mobile Internet providers and ASPs.