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USTelematics Announces Licensing of Voyager Mobile IPTV to Audiovox
Business Wire, May 13, 2008
Audiovox to Manufacture, Distribute and Market Voyager Mobile IPTV Worldwide; Proposed Deal Includes Cash Investment into USTelematics
CHICAGO -- USTelematics, Inc. (OTC:UTLM), creating and deploying proprietary technology at the forefront of the connected-car revolution, confirmed today it is in the process of finalizing an agreement with Audiovox Corp. (NASDAQ: VOXX) to manufacture, distribute and market USTelematics' Voyager Mobile IPTV hardware product, under Audiovox brand names, at more than 20,000 retail electronics and automotive channels worldwide.
Audiovox is one of the world's premier manufacturers and distributors of mobile electronics and car audio and video equipment, and is also a pioneer in the cellular industry. Its family of brands includes such industry leaders as Advent, Acoustic Research, RCA, Jensen, Phase Linear and others.
"This expected arrangement with Audiovox is the first step toward significantly accelerating the marketing and distribution of Voyager into one of the largest and best-established networks of automotive electronics retailers in the world," said Howard Leventhal, Chief Executive Officer of USTelematics. "We could not be more pleased with this development. Not only will it validate our proprietary technology and product, it will enable us to dramatically magnify our revenues by providing wireless mobile broadband connectivity and programming services to Voyager users, on a wider scale and in a much shorter time period than previously possible."
Leventhal also said, "USTelematics stands to benefit from Audiovox's established and extensive distribution network, which reaches approximately 10,000 car dealerships and more than 10,000 other points of distribution. Having Audiovox make and sell Voyager promises to reduce the time and funding that would have been required to achieve the same capability at USTelematics."
"Neither we nor our shareholders could conceive of a more perfect method of getting straight to the high-margin connectivity and programming e-services businesses that have been in our sights from the very beginning," said Mr. Leventhal.
Yesterday USTelematics announced that the Company is launching an aggressive build-up of its new 4VDO service to deliver live internet protocol TV programming into wireless mobile devices (including Voyager, smartphones and PDAs) with reliable high bandwidth support. Each new 4VDO service subscription will produce income to USTelematics that equals or exceeds the company's gross margin on each unit of Voyager hardware, if the company were to continue manufacturing the hardware.
"This e-service income is to be produced with a low, single-digit percentage cost of delivery and carries with it none of the risks of manufacturing, inventorying and selling of a hardware product," said Mr. Leventhal. "By letting Audiovox do what it does best with Voyager, USTelematics gains the ability to put 4VDO in front of the largest conceivable audience within the shortest of time frames."
Subject to remaining due diligence, Audiovox has expressed its intention to invest a certain amount of cash directly into USTelematics and to pay a per-unit royalty for rights to the Voyager intellectual property, software, trade secrets and for manufacturing and distribution rights worldwide. Terms of a yet-to-be-final agreement include USTelematics' exclusive right to provide technical provisioning and access to programming and wireless broadband connectivity services to Voyager buyers under the Audiovox brand.
USTelematics presently has contracts in place with Verizon Wireless for Voyager mobile wireless connectivity, Dish Network for live TV programming, Apple for the iTunes library and with a number of other content and programming service distributors.
As new WiMax services proliferate, such as those to become widely available in the recently announced Sprint (NYSE: S), Clearwire (NasdaqGS: CLWR), Google (NasdaqGS: GOOG), and Intel (NasdaqGS: INTC) joint venture, USTelematics expects to become a key player in getting WiMax deployed en masse.
According to Mr. Leventhal, the companies are targeting execution of a definitive agreement within 45 days, and have been in talks since February of this year. "Audiovox intends to make some modifications to Voyager's design, and therefore shipments will be later than USTelematics' wholesale customers are presently expecting. Ideally, Voyager should be available from Audiovox in time for the holiday season."
About Audiovox
Audiovox Corporation is a leading international distributor and value added service provider in the electronics industry. The Company services the consumer electronics and 12-Volt markets and conducts its business through subsidiaries marketing its products both domestically and internationally under its own brands, which include Audiovox, Jensen, Advent, Phase Linear, Code Alarm, Acoustic Research among others. It also functions as an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) supplier to several customers. For additional information, please visit Audiovox on the Web at http://www.audiovox.com.