Lng Distance: Newly Public GTC Telecom to Mirror Amazon.com; GTC to be the First to Offer in the $10 Billion Long Distance Calling Card Market Calling Cards Online - Company Business and Marketing

EDGE, On & About AT&T, Jan 18, 1999

GTC Telecom Tuesday announced that it has begun implementing plans to create the first Web site dedicated to the online sale of calling cards. Like Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN), GTC Telecom will cut out the high cost middleman and sell direct to the customer. The Web site www.Ecallingcards.com will be launched Feb. 15, 1999 and will enable GTC Telecom to offer calling cards at a rate that is 40-50 percent below the current retail pricing scale and still earn approximately 30 percent gross profit. GTC Telecom is a long distance carrier and offers a 7.9 cents per minute long distance rate in selected states. The company has already successfully implemented an international calling card program through retail channels for international markets. Through its agreements with companies such as MCI/Worldcomm (Nasdaq: WCOM), GTC Telecom has been able to increase its customer base by being able to offer very low rate plans. According to Mark Fleming, formerly of MCI Worldcomm and current executive vice president of GTC Telecom, "The amount of administrative cost and overhead for GTC Telecom to provide this service is minimal. We are similar to other online retailers such as Amazon.com, Shopping.com, IMALL and Skymall, but we have the added benefit of having no product or inventory to order or ship." Fleming continued, "In addition we have no backlog, discontinued product to return or damaged merchandise to deal with. Simply, if you were a customer you would enter our Web site, order a card, we will ask you how many minutes of long distance time you desire. We then charge your credit card or your phone bill if we are your long distance carrier and we issue you an 800 number and a pin number good for the minutes purchased. One of the greatest features of this program is that as soon as we have your credit card number your card is usable. There is no down time, in which the customer has to wait for the card to be shipped, etc. Our service is instantaneous." Eric Clemons, GTC Telecom's chief operating officer stated, "The calling card market is estimated at $10 billion annually. Our plan in the long distance calling card market is much like Amazon.com whose industry is well over $13 billion. Since we have a sophisticated, low cost telecommunications infrastructure in place, it was a very strategic move for GTC Telecom to come out with long distance calling cards over the Internet. It was a logical leap for us to enter into this market because of our already low rates and our strong, inexpensive network. Being the first to market and being able to profitably offer a calling card 40-50 percent below current retail averages should catapult our emergence into the Internet market." Clemons continued, "Initially, GTC Telecom was looking for more products and services to add to our already low cost packages. We want to offer our customers as many options as possible. We discovered that by offering calling cards over the Internet, we can considerably lower the cost to our end user." Founded in 1997, GTC Telecom is an interexchange carrier, providing long distance service to small and medium sized businesses as well as residential customers throughout the United States. Currently, GTC believes that they have the lowest long distance rates nationwide. GTC's long distance service offerings include outbound service, inbound toll-free 800 service, and dedicated private line services for data.

GTC's position as an interexchange carrier gives the company the ability to function as a large telecom company but alleviates the overhead, thus allowing GTC to have rates lower than many of their competitors. FMI: www.gtctelecom.com