Industry News

Islamabad: Telecom sector of Pakistan has shown 20% growth in its revenues by generating Rs.327.8 billion total revenues in fiscal year 2008-09 while the Government collected Rs.112 billion in the form of taxes from the sector. According to the Annual Report for year 2008-09 issued by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), teledensity of Pakistan stood at 62% showing a growth rate of 5.4% hence sustaining positive growth trends in the sector.
The PTA report further says that in the reported period telecom sector continued to grow positively in terms of subscription, revenues and teledensity. It managed to attract US$ 815 million Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2008-09. However, as most of the operators are foreign-based, the pessimistic outlook of global economy compelled the telecom operators to curtail the infrastructure expansion plans, still total investments in the sector stood at US$ 1.7 billion. During the year (i.e.2008-09) the sector contributed a total of Rs. 112 billion to national exchequer in the form of taxes whereas telecom imports also grew by 20% and reached US$ 1.6 billion.
The mobile penetration reached 58.2% and total mobile subscribers reached 94.3 million with more than 90% of the country having access to mobile services. The trend in subscription remained tilted towards prepaid subscription with 98% prepaid subscriptions whereas only 2% subscribers are postpaid. Although the financial strength of mobile segment remained invariable still the cellular revenues grew by 16% and stood at Rs. 212 billion at the end of 2008-09. The mobile investments dropped by 48% and reached US$ 1.2 billion in the reported year. The industry ARPU stands at US$ 2.48 showing a drop of 20% from last year.
Major milestones achieved by PTA for mobile sector include taking up the responsibility to convince the Government of Pakistan to facilitate the sector by brining down the tax rates on telecom industry which resulted in reduction in the rate of GST from 21% to 19.5%, in addition to bringing down the activation tax by 50% while reducing the import duty on mobile handsets by 66% by cutting it down from Rs.750 to Rs.250 in budget 2008-09. Moreover, cleaning of unverified SIMs and SIM activation system (789) now in place is expected to curb the unsocial activities.
During 2008-09, basic services (LL, WLL & LDI) showed a healthy revenue growth rate of 26% contributing Rs. 113 billion to the sector revenue which is around 34% of the total telecom sector revenue, however, with the declining trend fixed line teledensity reaching 2.2% with a total of 3.5 million fixed-line subscribers in the country. Wireless local loop (WLL) has been able to sustain positive growth by winning the trust of customers. The WLL teledensity stands at 1.6% with 2.65 million subscribers across Pakistan. Long Distance & International (LDI) operators have been in quandary for last few years due to high settlement rates and alarmingly high grey/illegal telecom traffic. PTA took notice of the situation and initiated a number of steps in close coordination with LDI stakeholders. As a result, LDI sector experienced exceptional growth, reduction in illegal traffic and improved call rates. Currently, there are 09 companies providing LDI services via 163 Points of Presence (POP's) all across Pakistan.
Pakistan has been experiencing proliferation of Broadband in the past two years. Broadband subscriber base grew by 146% adding 245,727 subscribers during 2008-09. There are currently 413,809 Broadband subscribers in Pakistan as compared to 168,082 in 2008. As Broadband is still in its infancy in Pakistan, therefore, penetration level is relatively low i.e. 0.26 %. Broadband connection charges for 1Mbps connection dropped below Rs. 1000/- for the first time in history which is an unusual incentive for new broadband customers.
Telecom sector showed growth in areas of Azad Jamu & Kashmir and Northern Areas of Pakistan (AJK & NAs) also as by the end of fiscal year 2008-09, total teledensity of AJK & NAs stands at 39.9% up from 33.1% last year. Cellular industry has been showing a fast-paced growth since its arrival and total subscriber number has reached 1,973,742 by the end of June 2009 while the mobile penetration has reached 33% in just 2 years. Almost 82% population of the AJK & NAs is covered with mobile services. Today more than 270 cities/villages and towns are covered by all six operators in the region. PTA has also completed licensing of WLL services in AJK & NAs and has auctioned spectrum in 3 telecom regions. It is expected that WLL will be a successful service in AJK and NAs due to cheaper rates and easy availability.
With the current global and local political and financial situation, the telecom sector had to face tough challenges in the current year. However, being a Regulator, PTA has worked diligently for the betterment of the sector so that consumers, investors and Government can all be benefited from it. Due to the reforms in the sector carried out by the Government and effective regulatory interventions of PTA signs of recovery can be seen and it is expected that during the ongoing financial year the telecom sector would perform well and stand up to the expectations of all.
Keeping in view the vision of the present government of Pakistan, PTA worked for the betterment of the people of nation at large and for national security. It kept on promoting local businesses, attract foreign investment and increase sector contribution in national exchequer. This year PTA decided to work on following four focus areas namely Consumer Protection, Promoting ICTs, Promoting Competition and Ensuring National Security in addition to routine regulatory activities.
During the year 2008-09 PTA donated Rs. 201 million (20 Crore 10 Lac Rupees) to the “Prime Minister's Special Fund for the Victims of Terrorism”, established for the welfare and rehabilitation of Internally Displaced Person's (IDPs). Additionally, PTA in collaboration with mobile operators, through SMS service, contributed Rs. 5.67 million to Prime Minister's Special Fund for Victims of Terrorism and Chief Minister Punjab's Special Fund for IDP's. PTA employees also contributed their one day salary to the relief fund for earthquake victims of Balochistan.
In order to safeguard consumer interest and tackle their grievances, PTA launched a comprehensive complaint handling mechanism on 24th July 2009. Consumer Protection Department at PTA has received and redressed more than 80,000 individual consumer complaints since its establishment. PTA issued Consumer Protection Regulations, Anti-SPAMs Regulations to control the obnoxious & unsolicited calls and Subscribers verification Regulations. In order to encourage dialogue and input from all stakeholders, PTA arranged a public forum in Karachi on 7th August, 2009 and similar events are also in the pipeline for other cities.
The second most important focus area of work for PTA was the promotion of ICT's in Pakistan where the Authority intended to devise an effective mechanism to introduce emerging information & communication technologies and extensive proliferation of broadband services in Pakistan. In this regard, a number of steps have been taken during the year including the establishment of regulatory platform for Government and the stakeholder's interaction to identify core areas and develop guidelines for different ICT issues.
In order to promote competition PTA took number of steps during the reported year including Reviews of Access Promotion Charges, pricing policies of mobile operators, interconnection guidelines, PTCL RIO etc. In addition to this a number of surveys were carried out to check the quality of different telecom services. PTA finalized a revenue sharing agreement between ISP's and PTCL for providing free Dialup internet services in Pakistan. It issued directives to mobile operators for proper advertisement of Government taxes and services charges on telecom services. The deteriorating security situation in Pakistan pushed the regulator to take some major precautionary steps in order to assist Government of Pakistan in curbing the unsocial activities and security threats. In this regard a number of steps were taken including blocking of unregistered SIM, measures against elimination of gray traffic, preparing comprehensive plan for disaster management, monitoring and reconciliation of international telephony traffic and putting up system for activation of new SIM after verification. In addition to this PTA carried out research work in different areas as a result of which several consultation papers were floated in the industry to get feedback.
Source: Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) www.pta.gov.pk

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Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), has directed all Long Distance & International (LDI) operators to maintain approved settlement rates for international calls at the level determined by the Authority and decided to issue show cause notices to the LDI operators involved in illegal call termination.
These decisions were taken at PTA Headquarters in a meeting to review the Approved Settlement Rates (ASR) and Access Promotion Contribution (APC). The meeting was chaired by Chairman PTA Dr. Mohammed Yaseen and attended by Member Finance PTA Syed Nasrul Karim Ghaznavi, concerned PTA officials and all LDI operators..
Presently the approved settlement rate is US cents 10 per minute for international calls coming into Pakistan, but PTA was apprised by LDI operators that some operators are bringing traffic into the country at lower than the approved rates.
Chairman PTA said that all operators should follow the instructions of the Authority in this regard. He said that strict action will be taken against those operators not following the PTA approved rates. He further said that LDI is an important segment and PTA will facilitate its growth.
In the meeting, the Authority decided to issue Show Cause notices within 10 days to the LDI operators if found involved in illegal call termination business. It was also decided to upgrade the traffic monitoring system facility to curb grey traffic.
Source: Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) www.pta.gov.pk  

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Islamabad: WiMax networks and Wireless Broadband services have been commercially launched across the country heralding a new milestone in the Telecom sector of Pakistan.
The launch of commercial WiMax services has positioned Pakistan as the leader in the region to initiate wireless Broadband services that would be available to its consumers nation wide. Other regional countries including India are yet to offer such services; analysts believe that these countries may take a considerable time to reach the position that Pakistan has attained.
WiMax is the latest, ITU recognized, 3G technology capable of providing voice, broadband data and commercial video telephony services. With the launch of WiMax services in Pakistan, the subscribers to this service will be able to make video calls and telephony through special handsets while callers will be able to see live video/picture of each other in addition to voice conversation. The users will also enjoy wireless broadband services and will be able to use Internet at much faster speed as compared to normal dialup internet services or fixed line broadband services. These operators are also aiming at providing broadband data solution for corporate users in Pakistan.
At present M/s Wateen Telecom, an international telecom player is offering commercial WiMax services in most parts of the country. Mytel, a local operator in Peshawar, has also launched its commercial operation of WiMax in Peshawar. On the same front, other Wireless Local Loop operators including Burraq, PTCL, Z-WLL and Cyber Internet are busy in the deployment of WiMax networks. All of these operators are in their testing phase and will soon be able to offer commercial WiMax services in the country.
Source: Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) www.pta.gov.pk  

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The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, or Trai has slashed ADC rates, which will result in redcution of the total burden that the telecom operators have to pay to BSNL - they will save Rs 1200, as they will have to pay only Rs 2,000 crore, in comparison to Rs 3,200 crore, which they have been paying until now. The per minute ADC rates on outgoing ILD has been reduced to zero from 80 paise per min.
The per minute ADC on incoming ILD too has been cut to Re 1 per minute From Rs 1.60. The ADC on percentage revenue share has been cut to 0.75% of adjusted gross revenue. The amended ADC regulation will come to effect from April 1.
It is a news, which will be welcomed by the telecom operators. When Trai had given some relief to consumers in the form of roaming cuts last time, the operators were very miffed, which was because basically ADC is a levy that the private operators pay the Government to subsidise BSNL for its foray into rural telephony.
Private operators have been maintaining for long that they should not be paying the levy because this is essentially amounting to cross subsidisation and they wanted it to be reduced to zero. So this is in line with the Government stated objective of bringing the ADC levy down to zero by 2009. The total burden, which is now about Rs 3,200 crore for operators, has been reduced to Rs 2,000 crore as result of this ADC fee cut.
Permanent ADC on outgoing ILD has been reduced to zero from the existing level of 80 paise per minute, while that on incoming ILD has been reduced to Rs 1 per minute from the existing level of Rs 1.60 paise per minute. As a result of the recent move by Trai, the ISD tariffs will automatically fall sharply. As far as bottomline of telcos are concerned they are likely to keep the benefit to themselves; they had said many times in the past that the moment a cut in ADC is announced they will pass on the entire benefit to customers.
So what may eventually happen is a sharp fall in ISD tariffs, but it is unlikely that the telecos will retain burden on themselves. The regulators also reiterated subjective that the ADC regime is going to be phased out by 2009. So definitely welcome news for all telecom companies and also for consumers.
The move is expected to be volume accretive for the operators. Operators may eventually benefit from the move, the gains of which, will be passed on to the custormers eventually. So over a period of time the benefits will kick in via volume growth on the ILD front.
The operators have always been maintaining that if there is any reduction in levies, be it in the form of ADC or in the form of licensee they will pass it on to the consumers because they understand CST competitive market and if one operator does it the other operator will be left with no other option.
So it is expected to leave no other choice to the operators, but to pass it on to the customer; they will do it gladly so that they can ramp-up volumes, which is how they will make their money; that is how the game is in the telecom sector - low tariffs result in high volumes. The same should happen on the ILD front too, where volumes aren’t as good as they are on the domestic one.
Source : www.Moneycontrol.com  

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NEW DELHI: Those making international calls from India can look forward to lower bills with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) abolishing the access deficit charge (ADC) on outgoing calls to other countries.
The ADC constituted 80 paise per minute on international outgoing calls and with Trai insisting that the reduction must be passed on to consumers, users can expect a corresponding decline.
Trai also lowered the ADC for incoming international calls from Rs 1.60 per minute to Re 1 per minute, but the move will mostly benefit foreign callers or NRIs abroad, calling their folks back home.
A third cut made by the regulator is on the share of adjusted gross revenues (AGR) that operators have to pay as ADC. This has been reduced from 1.5% to 0.75%. While Trai expects this too to be passed on to consumers, operators pointed out that this would amount to less than a paise per minute on local calls.
The ADC is a charge levied on private telecom operators and passed on to BSNL for it to provide services in rural areas. The regulator estimates that at the reduced ADC levels, BSNL would get Rs 1,400 crore from international incoming calls and Rs 600 crore from the levy on AGR. The cuts in ADC, though modest, will be the second cut in telecom tariffs in less than three months brought about by the regulator. In January, following the TRAI's decision to lower tariffs on roaming call, the telecom operators had reduced long distance call charges. Following Wednesday's announcement, the largest mobile phone operator Bharti Airtel announced that tariff for international long distance call will be lowered. A senior official of Idea Cellular also said that the company will pass on the benefit to customers. Other operators are expected to follow suit. DG of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) T V Ramachandran said the reduction from 1.50% to 0.75% of AGR would not lead to much benefit for customers. He said the regulator should have brought the share down to zero. He also said felt the regulator should have brought down the collection through ADC from Rs 3,200 crore in 2006-07 to Rs 1,600 crore rather than Rs 2,000 crore.

Source : www.Moneycontrol.com  

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The Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission on Monday handed over licences for three international gateways, two interconnection exchanges and the lone international internet gateway to the representatives of the six companies who won the bid.
The BTRC's chairman, Manzurul Alam, handed over the IGW licences to Novotel Ltd, Mir Telecom and Bangla Trac Communications Ltd, and the ICX licences to M&H Telecom, Getco Telecommunications and Mango Teleservices who won the auction after offering to share 51.75 per cent, 65.75 per cent and 10 per cent of their revenue respectively with BTRC.
The BTRC held the auction last week for selling the IGW and ICX licences and on Monday to sell the IIG licence to companies in the private sector to break the monopoly of the state-owned Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board.
All the licences are valid for 15 years. The companies are expected to complete the installation of the necessary equipment soon and to start service by six months along with the BTTB.
Manzurul asked the new operators to maintain the quality of the network to provide excellent service to the customer.
'We will not tolerate any compromise in quality, and the service has to be good,' said the BTRC's chairman while handing over the licences to the representatives of the victorious companies.

The Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) floated a tender Sunday for issuing licences under the International Long Distance Telecommunication Service (ILDTS) Policy-2007 to open up the voice over internet protocol voice services to the private sector.
Licences will be issued in four categories -- international gateway (IGW) operator licence, interconnection exchange (ICX) operator licence, internet exchange (IX) operator licence and internet protocol (IP) telephony licence - to legalise voice for making international calls, a senior BTRC official told the FE Sunday. The BTRC has sought applications from the interested bidders to submit their applications to its office at Shetu Bhaban, Banai by November 21 next. The applications will also be opened on the same day in presence of the applicants in the BTRC office. Sources said the IGW, ICX and IX licences will be issued to the local companies, registered under the Joint Stock Company Act, 1994, through open auction, while the IP telephony licences will be issued only to the internet service providers (ISPs).
The government approved the ILDTS Policy-2007 in August for opening up the voice services to private sector and check illegal voice operation across the country.
As per the ILDTS policy, the IGW operators will facilitate voice and data transfer across the globe having connected with the submarine cable and ICX. ICX will bridge interconnection with the IGW and the IP telephony operators, while the IP telephony operators will provide services to the end-users through ICX.
The BTRC will provide three IGWs and two ICXs licences through auctions among the private operators, BTRC sources said. Under the ICX licences, six exchanges will be set up across the country - two in Dhaka and one each in Chittagong, Sylhet, Bogra and Khulna. One Internet Exchange (IX) licence will also be offered to private sector to facilitate internet services at home and abroad. Two exchanges will be installed - one in Dhaka another in Chittagong - to facilitate data transfer to the IP telephony operators. No foreign company or foreign joint venture will be entitled to apply for IGW or ICX licences.
Even the non-resident Bangladeshis' business outfits will not be eligible to get the licences, he added. The existing IGW, ICX and IX licences of the state-owned Bangladesh Telegraph and Telephone Board (BTTB) will remain valid, but it will have to obtain licence from the BTRC under the same conditions. The government will not provide any fresh 'very small aperture terminal' (VSAT) licence under the ILDTS policy and the existing VSATs will be shut down in phases. The ILDTS policy aims at wooing local investors, creating employment opportunities, upgrading client service standards and expanding use of internet across the country, said sources.

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The Auction for International Gateway (IGW) Services License was held on the 18th and 19th February 2008. The following bidders successfully won with 51.75% of revenue sharing:
 1. Novotel Limited
 2. Bangla Trac Communications Ltd.
 3. Mir Telecom
B. The Auction for Interconnection Exchange (ICX) Services License was held on the 20th and 21st February 2008. The following bidders successfully won with 65.75% of revenue sharing:
 1. M & H Telecom
 2. Getco Telecommunications Ltd.
C. The Auction for International Internet Gateway (IIG) Services License was held on the 25th February 2008. The following bidder successfully won with 10% of revenue sharing:
 1. Mango Teleservices
The TRA Revised voice Regulatory Policy, an opportunity for the Licensees to provide innovative voice services
March 16, 2010
As part of its commitment to encourage provisioning of innovative services, the TRA has taken a forward step in revising the voice Regulatory Policy. The revised Policy, which applies to voice Services, stipulates that Licensees may offer greater range of voice Services. The Policy also exempts certain scenarios from its provisions, for example, for UAE academic and governmental bodies.
The TRA Regulatory Framework is technology neutral, and the TRA does not prohibit voice as a technology. However, it is important to note that offering voice Services is considered a Regulated Activity which requires a licence. Therefore, only Licensees may provide voice Services. These services may be provided as either
 1 .as an end-to-end voice service (as in the traditional telephony);
 2 .as a “feature” on top of connectivity service; or
 3 .in any other form that the Licensee may wish to provide.
Eng. Mohammed Gheyath, the Executive Director at the TRA said “The TRA believes that this regulatory policy will provide opportunities for both Licensees and users to benefit from voice-based Services in keeping with the market demands. The TRA looks forward to seeing the introduction of voice Services that are responsive to consumer and business needs”.
As is the case with other Telecommunications Services, parties other than the Licensees may not provide voice Services in the UAE. However they can always approach and collaborate with the Licensees to legally provide their services. Companies wishing to use voice Services for international communications may approach the Licensees directly to seek such services.
A copy of the policy is available at www.tra.gov.ae/TRA Regulations.php, under Regulations section. Moreover, a list of Frequently Asked Questions and answers (FAQs) is available at www.tra.gov.ae/FAQ.php.

Al Gahnim "Increase in subscription reflects TRA's efforts to foster growth and development of the Sector"
UAE's telecom sector registered a new record growth when mobile subscribers in the country reach over 10 million subscribers this year. The number, which doubled in the last four years, represents an unprecedented mobile penetration rate of over 200%, placing the UAE as one of the highest penetration markets in the world.
The increase in mobile subscription rates reflects "the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority's to foster growth and development of the telecommunication sector in the country", Said HE Mohammed Nasser Al Ghanim said, adding that "these results confirms the decision of the UAE to introduce competition in the market has been beneficial". Al Ghanim also said that this achievement was made possible through the development of a regulatory framework that aims at creating sustainable, vibrant and fair completion. He also emphasized that the framework "has been instrumental in ensuring the emergence of more attractive pricing offers and the introduction of innovative new services within the market. It has also created an environment conducive to investment, as evidenced by the significant levels of infra structure investment undertaken by Etisalat and du in recent years."
Increase in mobile penetration rates is a trend that is also seen in the Middle East market recently despite the economic crisis. The region represents one of the world's fastest growing mobile subscription markets with a 47% year-over-year increase in 2008. Mobile penetration in Arab countries reached 56% at the end of 2008; figures across GCC countries remain much higher as the nature of the market is subject to maturity and introduction of new technologies. It is expected that the Middle East and North Africa telecommunications market is set to continue to grow in 2010, albeit at a slower pace while the telecom landscape is becoming more competitive.

Executive Editor, IP Communications Group
Once upon a time there was a startup voice provider called ChipChat. Fortunately, the owners changed the name – first to VIP Calling (which stood for voiceCalling), but the owners soon thought that such a name was too “small sounding” as the company began to sell minutes to Tier 1 carriers. Since the company regarded the Internet as the “basis” for the majority of global communication, the company changed its name to iBasis (News - Alert). And, as they say, the third time’s a charm.
iBasis became a huge success story. It was the first pure-play voice carrier to break telecom’s top three. And on October 1st, iBasis officially merged with Royal KPN N.V. (News - Alert), the national carrier of the Netherlands. Essentially KPN’s international wholesale voice business will be merged into iBasis. The combination immediately makes iBasis one of the three largest carriers of international phone calls worldwide. Just imagine combining KPN’s extensive footprint in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (9 billion minutes) with iBasis' strong presence in the Americas and Asia (11.1 billion minutes).
As a result of the transaction, iBasis receives the KPN Global Carrier Services business unit and $55 million in cash from KPN in exchange for approximately 40 million shares of its common stock, after which KPN will be a 51 percent shareholder on a fully diluted basis. iBasis will pay a dividend in the aggregate amount of $113 million to its stockholders of record as of the close of business on September 28, 2007.
“We’ve grown to become the second largest carrier of international voice traffic in the world,” says Gneezy, President and CEO of iBasis. “We are quite pleased about that. We believe that this merger will launch a new era in the telecom business, particularly in the carriage of international voice traffic. We are joining the world’s largest carriers of international voice traffic. Our total volume in 2006 was over 20.1 billion minutes in international traffic, which is equal to AT&T and second only to Verizon (News - Alert). That $1.3 billion in revenues.”
“This is the first time that a new player, let alone a voice carrier, has broken into the top ranks of international voice traffic in the world,” says Gneezy. “Those positions are not held solely by incumbent carriers such as Verizon and AT&T (News - Alert) anymore. As a result of our merger, we end up with more than 1,000 customers from all segments of the telecom business. Those customers are all service providers that provide international calling to their customers. And we help those networks carry the international traffic to destinations around the world. We are going to be in the best position to target both the mobile operators and the voice providers that occupy the largest-growing segments in the telecom market today.”
The new iBasis (“a KPN affiliate”) will have, if nothing else, a solid balance sheet and impressive positive cash flow. It should give both AT&T and Verizon a real run for the money.

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Executive Editor, IP Communications Group
Once upon a time there was a startup voice provider called ChipChat. Fortunately, the owners changed the name – first to VIP Calling (which stood for voice Calling), but the owners soon thought that such a name was too “small sounding” as the company began to sell minutes to Tier 1 carriers. Since the company regarded the Internet as the “basis” for the majority of global communication, the company changed its name to iBasis (News - Alert). And, as they say, the third time’s a charm.
iBasis became a huge success story. It was the first pure-play voice carrier to break telecom’s top three. And on October 1st, iBasis officially merged with Royal KPN N.V. (News - Alert), the national carrier of the Netherlands. Essentially KPN’s international wholesale voice business will be merged into iBasis. The combination immediately makes iBasis one of the three largest carriers of international phone calls worldwide. Just imagine combining KPN’s extensive footprint in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (9 billion minutes) with iBasis' strong presence in the Americas and Asia (11.1 billion minutes).
As a result of the transaction, iBasis receives the KPN Global Carrier Services business unit and $55 million in cash from KPN in exchange for approximately 40 million shares of its common stock, after which KPN will be a 51 percent shareholder on a fully diluted basis. iBasis will pay a dividend in the aggregate amount of $113 million to its stockholders of record as of the close of business on September 28, 2007.
“We’ve grown to become the second largest carrier of international voice traffic in the world,” says Gneezy, President and CEO of iBasis. “We are quite pleased about that. We believe that this merger will launch a new era in the telecom business, particularly in the carriage of international voice traffic. We are joining the world’s largest carriers of international voice traffic. Our total volume in 2006 was over 20.1 billion minutes in international traffic, which is equal to AT&T and second only to Verizon (News - Alert). That $1.3 billion in revenues.”
“This is the first time that a new player, let alone a voice carrier, has broken into the top ranks of international voice traffic in the world,” says Gneezy. “Those positions are not held solely by incumbent carriers such as Verizon and AT&T (News - Alert) anymore. As a result of our merger, we end up with more than 1,000 customers from all segments of the telecom business. Those customers are all service providers that provide international calling to their customers. And we help those networks carry the international traffic to destinations around the world. We are going to be in the best position to target both the mobile operators and the voice providers that occupy the largest-growing segments in the telecom market today.”
The new iBasis (“a KPN affiliate”) will have, if nothing else, a solid balance sheet and impressive positive cash flow. It should give both AT&T and Verizon a real run for the money.

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