STP.L Regulatory News (STP)

11 May 2005 07:01

Spiritel PLC11 May 2005 For immediate release 11 May 2005 SPIRITEL PLC ("Spiritel" or "the Company") Announces first customer for Spiritel Technologies Spiritel plc (AIM: STP), the telecommunications services business, is pleased toannounce that Spiritel Technolgies, the Company's recently created divisionfocussed on providing virtual PBX and other services to small and medium-sizedbusinesses (SMEs), has signed JabberTalk as its first customer. JabberTalk is a VoIP (voice over internet protocol) service and part of theprivately held investment group Montroyal Investments Limited, which also ownstelecoms company 24Talk and whose customer base includes around 40,000 SMEs.These customers will be offered Spiritel Technologies' hosted PBX product, whichreplaces the need for an in-house telephone switching system with a productprovided by Spiritel via a broadband connection. Spiritel Technologies' product has significant advantages over traditionalsystems in terms of cost and convenience, not least in reducing capital,maintenance and upgrade costs and in providing additional functionality andflexibility. The Spiritel Technologies' hosted PBX service, also known as IP Centrex, offersauto-attendant and other features including "follow me" call re-direction, faxto e-mail, voicemail to e-mail and multi-user conferencing as well as normal PBXfunctionality. All these features can be configured via a web interface, givingindividual users control over their communications services. The IP Centrexservice also provides a choice of UK and international numbers enablingcustomers to have a telephony presence or "virtual office" in places regardlessof the end-users' physical location. Spiritel, through its proprietary billing system, will manage the billing ofJabberTalk clients that use the IP Centrex product and will also provide fixedline and fixed line to mobile voice calls at competitive rates. Commenting on the JabberTalk agreement, Mark Willard, Spiritel's ChiefExecutive, said: "I am delighted to welcome JabberTalk and JabberTalk's customerbase to the services offered by Spiritel. Through this agreement, Spiritel willbe able to offer its pioneering value-added and cost-effective telephonyservices to JabberTalk's SME customers." ENDS For further information: Spiritel plc 020 7160 0100 Mark Willard, Chief Executive Teather & Greenwood 020 7426 9000 Jeff Keating Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000 Mark CourtMary-Jane Johnson Notes for Editors: About Spiritel plc Spiritel (AIM: STP) is the holding company for a growing group of companieswhose focus is telecommunications' services and products. Spiritel's initialtrading division, Expo Communications, was founded in 2000 and has enjoyed yearon year growth in both revenue and profitability. It is one of Europe's leadingcall termination businesses. Spiritel's other divisions include SpiritelTechnologies, which offers bundled services to small and medium sizedbusinesses, and Spiritel Managed Networks, which offers managed telecomsservices to corporates including the handling of voice traffic to and fromoverseas call centres. Spiritel joined the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in July 2004. For further information please visit www.spiritelplc.com This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange