NEW YORK-Provision of flat rate, local call access to a plethora of wireless and wireline services is the driving force behind the acquisition of Voice-Tel Enterprises Inc., which Premiere Technologies Inc. announced April 2.
Premiere, headquartered in Atlanta, is a telecommunications systems integrator whose primary focus until now has been on mobile workers. Its $185 million purchase of Voice-Tel, based in Cleveland, will allow it to pursue a broader business-based marketplace, Boland T. Jones, chief executive officer of Premiere, said in a teleconference.
To buy Voice-Tel, Premiere will pay between $10 million and $15 million cash and between 7 million and 9 million shares of its own stock. Closing of the acquisition is to occur in two stages, the first prior to April 30, the second by June 30. As a consequence of the acquisition, Jones told securities analysts he anticipates that Premiere’s stock will close out 1997 about 25 percent above the company’s consensus estimate of 56 cents per share.
“The (telecommunications) market has been focused on the concept of unified messaging, but we were the first to deliver a comprehensive suite of services via toll-free access,” Jones said.
With the acquisition of Voice-Tel, Premiere will be able, “to use local, seven-digit, flat-rate, non-measured calls to consolidate all of a user’s various numbers: cellular, paging, voice, fax, car phone, home office, local,” Jones said. “This is the most economical personal communications solution available today.”
Calling the acquisition, “a one-of-a-kind deal,” Jones said Voice-Tel possesses a “proprietary, state-of-the-art digital voice and data messaging network” connecting about 300 nodes with local access lines in four countries: the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. By year end, Voice-Tel will have the United Kingdom covered.
Because Premiere’s own proprietary platform technology is network-based, users of its consolidation services won’t have to change anything. This capability overcomes, “a big barrier in existing legacy systems,” he said. Furthermore, the offerings can be customized and easily altered or upgraded to suit an individual user’s current and future requirements.
Premiere’s consolidated services include: universal messaging, voice mail, fax mail and electronic mail, screen-based messaging, follow-me single number services, text-to-speech, voice recognition, content services like news and weather and automatic electronic billing. All services provided are integrated into a single bill.
