Hong Kong, November 13, 2007 – IDT Asia, the regional operating arm of IDT Telecom, today announced that it has launched VersaLoad, a mobile top-up services for Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the region through a collaborative arrangement with Communigate Technologies Inc. (CTI), a Philippines-based communications services aggregator. IDT Telecom is a subsidiary of IDT Corporation (NYSE: IDT, IDT.C), a multinational holding company with operations that span several industries.
In 2006, the number of OFWs located in 197 countries hit an historic high of 1,062,567 having grown 7.5% from 2005. 28.3% of OFWs are working in the Asia Pacific region with Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Korea among the top ten destinations, according to a recent report from the Philippine Overseas Employment Association (POEA). IDT has been meeting the telecommunications needs of this population with its Tawag Na phonecard, which allows OFWs to enjoy low 24-hour international direct dialling (IDD) flat rates to The Philippines and elsewhere while enjoying crisp and crystal clear quality. IDT’s collaboration with CTI allows it to offer OFWs this new value-added service, which in turn enhances the functionality of IDT’s prepaid calling cards for these customers. With the introduction of the IDT VersaLoad service, OFWs can now benefit from the mobile top-up feature available through their IDT Tawag Na phonecard.
The IDT VersaLoad service allows IDT Tawag Na phonecard users to use their prepaid balance to transfer load credits to their loved ones in The Philippines sending prepaid top-up credit in various denominations to Globe, Smart, Sun, Talk & Text, and TM subscribers.
Chip Barton, IDT Asia’s Managing Director, said “IDT Asia strives to help Filipinos worldwide communicate with their friends and loved ones in new and better ways. Through the years, IDT has consistently delivered reliable, cost-efficient international calling services to our customers worldwide. By teaming with CTI on VersaLoad, we further strengthen our commitment to bringing more value-added services to the ever-growing population of Overseas Filipinos.”
“We have been developing a comprehensive mobile loading system, and the strategic tie-up with IDT gives us more coverage and brings our innovative services closer to the millions of Filipinos abroad,” said Mario Lazaro, President of CTI. “By working with IDT’s talented team – not to mention its high quality of service, reliability and huge customer base – our system’s capabilities will be fully utilized and the solutions that we offer will definitely leverage on our combined strengths in business process and technology. As one of the world’s pre-eminent multinational telecommunications companies, IDT is in a strong position to deliver the kind of convenient and functional solutions in airtime top-up that OFWs deserve”.
About IDT Asia
IDT Asia is the regional division of IDT Telecom and was formed in 2003. The regional headquarters is in Hong Kong, with branch offices throughout the Asia Pacific region. IDT Asia concentrates its expertise in two main product areas: retail telecommunications services and wholesale carrier services.
About IDT Corporation
IDT Corporation is an innovative and opportunity seeking multinational holding company with operations that span various industries. Through its Telecom subsidiary, IDT provides telecommunications services worldwide to the retail and wholesale markets. IDT’s Capital division incubates newer businesses, and the company’s Spectrum subsidiary holds its spectrum license assets. IDT Telecom provides retail and wholesale telecommunications services and products, including pre-paid and rechargeable calling cards, consumer local, long distance, and wireless phone services, and wholesale carrier services. Under the Net2Phone brand name, the company also provides a range of voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) communications services. IDT Capital’s operations include an Energy Services Company (ESCO) in New York State, receivables portfolio management and collection, ethnic food distribution, brochure distribution, and other initiatives. IDT Corporation’s Class B Common Stock and Common Stock trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbols IDT and IDT.C, respectively.
About CTI
Communicate Technologies Inc. (CTI), is an independent service integrator for banks and other financial institutions, telecommunication companies and merchant aggregators. CTI’s services include electronic load distribution, systems development and integration and money remittance and airtime electronic transfer worldwide. In the Philippines, CTI offers Airtime Load Transfer with all Philippine mobile operators SMART, GLOBE and SUN CELLULAR. It operates within a superior and secure environment, which greatly reduces incidents of fraud and misuse. Having undergone rigid tests and stringent audits, CTI’s highly adaptable system is now being used nationwide by these mobile operators for domestic airtime load transfer, catering to almost 38 million pre-paid mobile users.