SALT LAKE CITY (BUSINESS WIRE)
Fonix to Gain Northeast Presence and Expanded Customer Base with Addition of New York-based Telecom Provider
Fonix(R) Corp. (OTC BB: FNIX), a communications and technology company providing integrated telecommunications services and value-added speech technologies, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Empire One Telecommunications Inc. («Empire»), a privately held company based in Brooklyn, N. Y. Empire provides facility-based local and long distance phone services and Internet services to business and residential customers. Fonix anticipates that it will close the purchase by Dec. 31, 2004.
Fonix will acquire Empire through a merger transaction for total consideration valued at less than $5 million payable part in cash and part in restricted Fonix common stock. For the trailing 12-month period, Empire had revenues of approximately $8 million. With the addition of Empire, Fonix telecommunications operations is expected to report consolidated revenues of $25 million in 2005. «The acquisition of Empire One Telecommunications enhances and expands our customer base, geographic reach and service capabilities,» said Thomas A. Murdock, Fonix president and CEO. «This transaction represents an important follow-up to this year’s LecStar acquisition and an acceleration of our strategy to consolidate regional exchanges’ customer bases to create cross-selling opportunities and improve efficiencies through integration. Empire’s strength lies in its facility-based network, which will allow Fonix Telecom companies to leverage low-cost routing of telecom traffic, an enormous advantage in the competitive telecom market.»
«Empire is pleased to join Fonix and its telecom operating subsidiary, Fonix Telecom Inc., and we are excited about the added benefits and services that this transaction makes available to our customers,» said Paul Butler, Empire One Telecommunications COO. «Empire’s facility-based network provides a tremendous advantage to Fonix Telecom, as it can be quickly incorporated into its service offering and the company will immediately realize the benefits of the resulting efficiencies. Customers will continue to receive the same high level of service and support. We expect to realize improved operating margins as we consolidate various functions with Fonix Telecom.»
The closing of the merger is subject to various conditions, including approval of certain federal and state regulatory agencies. There can be no assurance that such conditions will be satisfied or that the closing will occur within the time period presently contemplated by the parties.
About Empire One Telecommunications Inc.
Based in Brooklyn, N.Y., Empire One Telecommunications Inc. provides facility-based and resold local and long distance service and Internet services to customers in 16 states and the District of Columbia. Using state-of-the-art technology and providing superior customer service has helped Empire One Telecommunications become one of the fastest growing communications service providers in the United States. For more information, please visit www.eot.net.
About Fonix Telecom Inc.
Fonix Telecom Inc. is the Atlanta-based subsidiary of Fonix Corp., providing services in the Southeast region as LecStar Telecom Inc. (www.lecstar.com). Fonix Telecom provides a full array of wireline voice, data, long distance and Internet telephone services using traditional lines as well as next-generation networks such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Broadband over Power Lines (BPL) and fixed wireless technology communications services to businesses and consumers.
About Fonix
Fonix Corp. is an innovative communications and technology company that provides integrated telecommunications services and value-added speech technologies through Fonix Telecom Inc. and The Fonix Speech Group. Visit www.fonix.com for more information, or call 801–553–6600 and say «Sales.»
Statements released by Fonix that are not purely historical are forward looking within the meaning of the «Safe Harbor» provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the company’s expectations, hopes, intentions and strategies for the future. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risk and uncertainties that may affect the company’s business prospects and performance. The company’s actual results could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Risk factors include general economic, competitive, governmental and technological factors as discussed in the company’s filings with the SEC on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K. The company does not undertake any responsibility to update the forward-looking statements contained in this release.
SALT LAKE CITY Aug. 16, 2004
Pharmacies may now provide their customers with an easy-to-use, cost-effective speech interface to access prescription information
Fonix(R) Corp. (OTC BB: FNIX), an innovative communications and technology company providing integrated telecommunications services and value-added speech technologies, announces that Fonix’s proprietary automatic speech recognition (ASR) technology has been licensed and deployed by Smart Solutions, a Salt Lake City-based provider of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems to pharmacies.
Smart Solutions recently released its pharmacy IVR system incorporating Fonix ASR, which allows pharmacy customers to access prescription information via an easy-to-use voice interface, a simple solution that doesn’t require pressing buttons or looking at the phone. Fonix will receive unit royalties from each speech-based IVR unit sold by Smart Solutions; production is expected to begin fourth quarter 2004. «Smart Solutions’ innovative hardware design combined with Fonix ASR allows us to offer ASR features to our multi-site customers at a desirable price-point,» said Craig Swett, Smart Solutions president. «With this powerful combination, Smart remains a leader in our industry, providing a technology that has been previously unavailable and unaffordable.»
Currently, Smart Solutions is the only pharmacy IVR provider to offer ASR features to retail pharmacies for a price comparable to DTMF IVR. Speech interface systems provide chain store and independent pharmacy customers with a simpler and more convenient prescription refill experience. As customers become more accustomed to speech recognition-based services such as this one, demand is expected to increase and this technology will be incorporated into other versatile customer service systems.
«With their IVR pharmacy solution, Smart Solutions demonstrates the ease with which manufacturers and developers can incorporate Fonix speech solutions into user-friendly devices and systems that are also cost effective,» said John Oelfke, vice president of Fonix Embedded Speech Solutions.
Smart Solutions designed their proprietary speech board using Fonix ASR on Analog Devices Blackfin DSP. Fonix has designed our ASR for Blackfin as a low-cost, high-performance SDK for manufacturers seeking to integrate speech interfaces to products and devices such as automotive multimedia systems, data collection devices and instruments, entertainment systems, appliances, games and toys, and education devices. The Fonix SDK for Blackfin processors is easy to implement, resulting in quicker development and testing for manufacturers and decreased time-to-market for their products.
Fonix ASR is speaker-independent, which means Smart’s IVR system can be used by anyone and doesn’t need to be trained by the user. Fonix ASR is also based on proprietary Fonix neural network technology, which requires a smaller memory footprint and takes less of the developer’s valuable processor resources compared to speech recognition offerings from other companies.
