Calypso Wireless Announces Exclusive Distribution Agreement for its Dual Mode Wifi-GSM GPRS Phones in the U.K.; Real Time Two Way Video Conferencing Broadband GSM/Wi-Fi Cellular Phones to be Offered to British Operators & Retailers
MIAMI LAKES, Fla.--May 18, 2005
(protext/Businesswire)
Calypso Wireless, Inc. (Pink Sheets: CLYW), an emerging leader in advanced wireless telecommunications technology announced today that the company has entered into an exclusive distribution agreement with London, England-based Franc Telecom, Ltd. to distribute its real time two way video conferencing broadband WiFi-GSM/GPRS mobile telephones in the United Kingdom (U.K.). Calypso expects to begin realizing significant revenue under this agreement by the 4th quarter of this year.
Calypso piqued the interest of many Mobile Carriers by demonstrating its ASNAP(tm) technology which provides a system that enables Mobile Carriers and Internet Service Providers to identify and authenticate the mobile user, thereby creating a platform for revenue sharing between the synergistic companies and increased revenues for them by delivering new added services such as two way real-time video conferencing on Calypso' cellular phone using Calypso' ASNAP(tm) patented technology (U.S. patent number 6,680,923). It could also provide significant savings to Mobile Carriers in additional frequency spectrum and infrastructure equipment by offloading capacity to the Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) and IP networks while providing additional sources of revenues providing newly services such as real time two way video conferencing, fast internet connection and VoIP.
"According to Franc Telecom they will offer interconnection with different operators such as T-Mobile -Deutsche Telekom (NYSE:DT) (DAX Xetra: DTE), O2 (LSE: OOM) and Vodafone (LSE: VOD) (NYSE: VOD), therefore our cellular phone will also work on those networks,'' says Alfredo Sarrazin, Vice President of Sales of Calypso Wireless, Inc.
"Calypso Wireless expects to conduct demonstrations and commence field trials with Mobile Carriers in the US, Europe and Latin America with whom it has already signed NDA's and Field Trials Agreements", says Sarrazin.
Under the terms of the agreement, Calypso has granted Franc Telecom exclusive distributorship for the United Kingdom, subject to the requirement to place orders for a minimum of 100,000 cellular broadband GSM/Wi-Fi phones within the first three months of the agreement and an additional 150,000 units within the first contract year. This agreement stipulates that Franc Telecom is required to establish, in favor of Calypso, an irrevocable letter of credit for each purchase order, with appropriate draw down provisions, from a respectable European Union bank acceptable to Calypso.
Calypso's team is scheduled to conduct demonstrations of the company's C1250i Wi-Fi cellular phone to Franc Telecom's potential customers next week in London. The parties expected to be present for this demonstration include a variety of both cellular carriers and large retailers. The delivery of phones is anticipated to begin during the fourth quarter of 2005.
"We believe that the U.K. could be a very large market for Calypso's Wi-Fi enabled phones and that Franc Telecom should be our excellent strategic partner for rapid penetration in this market. For this initial product demonstration, Franc Telecom's Jai Doonpandit has assembled representatives from a combination of cellular carriers and some of the largest electronics retailers in the U.K. The retailers expected to be present control over 6,000 retail outlets in the region, which could have our phones on their shelves in time for the Christmas buying season," says George Schilling, President and Chief Executive Officer of Calypso Wireless, Inc.
"The per-minute cost of making cellular calls in the British Isles is significantly higher than in the U.S. There appears to be growing demand in the U.K. for phones that have the capability of allowing users to make cellular calls at a lower cost than they are accustomed to at present. Calypso's Wi-Fi phones can provide that capability," continues Schilling. According to research by the high-tech market research firm, In-Stat/MDR, the marriage of Voice over Wireless Area Network (VoWLAN) and cellular technology will be arriving sooner than most would think. By 2006, VoWLAN/cellular handsets will be in many enterprise customer hands, and starting to enter the home market as well. "The VoWLAN/cellular combo handset has all the abilities of a regular cellular handset, plus voice over IP over WLAN. Customers get excellent coverage in the areas where they talk most, such as their homes and at work, and carriers can offer VoIP service cheap, because a minute of VoWLAN airtime costs them only a fraction of what a cellular call costs," says Allen Nogee, a Principal Analyst with In-Stat/MDR.
About Calypso Wireless
Calypso Wireless is the company behind the ASNAP(tm) technology for which it was granted U.S. Patent #6,680,923 titled ``Communication system and method'' (http://www.uspto.gov search U.S. patent number 6,680,923), which covers the seamless roaming of voice, video and data between Wide Area Network access points, such as cellular towers (GSM/GPRS/EDGE, CDMA, WCMDA etc.) and short-range Internet access points (such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, etc.).
Calypso's patented ASNAP(TM) technology enables the cellular phones to automatically detect any available Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) and then seamlessly switch between the signals of a standard cellular link towers and an available short-range broadband network such as cable or DSL with Wi-Fi. The integration of ASNAP(TM) technology will enable greatly enhanced services such as real time video conferencing via Calypso' cellular phones, PDA's (Personal Digital Assistance) or any mobile devise powered with the company's ASNAP(TM) technology. The patent has also given Calypso the rights to offer license agreements to major mobile and ISP carriers as well as to cellular phones manufacturer and OEM's. Calypso has also built upon its patented ASNAP(TM) technology to create a new technology that could provide 'the' solution that allows satellite radio signals from carriers such as XM Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: XMSR) and Sirius Satellite Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) to be readily received by all types of mobile wireless devices, thus generating a huge new potential revenue stream for both the satellite radio companies and the companies supplying service to mobile phones and devices and the manufacturers and retailers of those devices, as well for the licensing of this technology by Calypso.
Calypso Wireless is a publicly traded company headquartered in Miami Lakes, FL. Its common stock trades under the ticker symbol CLYW. For more information about Calypso Wireless and its products and services, please visit the company's Web site at http://www.calypsowireless.com.
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CONTACT:
Calypso Wireless Inc.
Tony Drake, 305-828-1483
http://www.calypsowireless.com