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iBasis Selected by Skype as Carrier for Upcoming SkypeOut International PC-to-Phone Long Distance Calling Service

New Service Builds on Skype Base of 16 Million+ Software Downloads

BURLINGTON, MA— July 23, 2004 — iBasis, Inc. (OTCBB: IBAS), a leader in international long distance, VoIP, and prepaid calling cards, today announced that it has established an interconnection with Skype, the global Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Internet telephony company, to provide worldwide call termination services over its global VoIP network. iBasis will carry calls originating from Skype's soon to be launched SkypeOut service that will enable users of Skype's application to place phone calls to any phone in the world.

Skype's Peer-to-Peer application is the fastest growing voice communications offering worldwide. The free software, which enables users to use their PCs to make free calls to other Skype users, has been downloaded more than 16 million times since its launch in August 2003. The SkypeOut application will allow users to prepay to place calls to regular landline and mobile phones worldwide.

"Skype is delivering on the Big Promise of Internet telephony, which has always been about innovation—the creation of new services and new business models that spawn a new era of growth in global communications," said Ofer Gneezy, president and CEO of iBasis. "By providing consumers an exciting new choice, SkypeOut will dramatically accelerate the growth of phone calls over the Internet, which already account for more than 10% of all international calls."

"With iBasis' experience in carrying huge volumes of calls and Skype's incredible growth, this is an agreement that fits us both perfectly," said Niklas Zennström, Skype's CEO and co-founder. "Together, we can grow the worldwide consumer use of Internet telephony by providing easy access to affordable high quality service."

About Skype Technologies S.A.

Skype, the Global * P2P Internet Telephony Company, allows people everywhere to make free, unlimited, superior quality voice calls via its innovative peer-to-peer software. Skype is available in 20 languages and is the fastest growing voice communications offering worldwide. Since its launch in August 2003, Skype has been downloaded more than 16 million times. Skype Technologies S.A. is headquartered in Luxembourg and is growing its office in London and technology development team in Tallinn. Skype Technologies is privately held and backed by top-tier international venture capital firms, including Bessemer Venture Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Index Ventures, and Mangrove Venture Partners. Skype and the Global P2P Telephony Company are registered trademarks of Skype. More information is available at www.skype.com.

About iBasis

Founded in 1996, iBasis (OTCBB: IBAS) is a leading provider of wholesale international telecommunications services. For the past two years the company has been named by service providers as the best international wholesale carrier in Atlantic-ACM's annual International Wholesale Carrier Report Card1. iBasis is a preferred provider for many of the largest carriers in the world, including AT&T, Cable & Wireless, China Mobile, China Unicom, MCI, Sprint, Telefonica, Telenor, and Telstra. iBasis has carried more than six billion minutes of international voice traffic over its global Cisco Powered Network™, and is one of the ten largest carriers of international voice traffic in the world2. In addition to its wholesale international telecommunications services, iBasis provides retail prepaid calling cards to major distributors, utilizing the international iBasis Network. Based on its revenue growth from 1997 through 2001, iBasis was ranked the #8 fastest-growing technology company in North America and the #1 fastest-growing technology company in New England in the Technology Fast 500 national program sponsored by Deloitte & Touche. The company can be reached at its worldwide headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts, USA at 781-505-7500 or on the Internet at www.ibasis.com.

The New England Technology Fast 50 program is presented by Deloitte & Touche and Hale and Dorr, in association with the sponsor, Mazonson Inc. In addition, Mass High Tech and Trinity Communications are associated with the program.

   
 
 
     

 

 


 

1 Telegeography 2003 data compared with iBasis annualized Q1 2004 traffic volume.

2 ATLANTIC-ACM International Wholesale Carrier Report Card—2002, 2003, & 2004.

Assured Quality Routing and iBasis are registered marks, DirectVoIP and The iBasis Network are trademarks of iBasis, Inc. Cisco and Cisco Powered Network are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Except for historical information, all of the expectations, projections and assumptions contained in the foregoing press release, including those relating to the company's current expectations regarding revenue growth, sources of revenue, margin improvement, profitability, future capital expenditures, and cash flows constitute forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and involve risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, (i) the extent of adoption of the company's services and the timing and amount of revenue and margin generated by these services; (ii) fluctuations in the market for and pricing of these services; and (iii) the other considerations described as "Risk Factors" in the Company's most recent Forms 10-K and 10-Q, and the company's other SEC filings. We have no current intention to update any forward-looking statements.