Hi Yanlin,In reply:1)Are you sure you don't have a position in...

Hi Yanlin,

In reply:

1)
Are you sure you don't have a position in this company?

Answer:
I do not have a position in ATC.

2)
"...with the current depressed state of the global telecoms industry, a number of opportunities presenting themselves to ATC".

Answer:
I agree regarding the number of emerging opportunities, but query the value proposition of many of them, once they fall outside of the Tier 1 and 2 carrier groupings.

3)
"...To the astute investor comes the greatest benefit, especially when everyone else is blind to the opportunities".

Answer:
I agree. My previous postings on HC have long alluded to the need for market consolidation amongst the smaller player ranks both within Australia, and elsewhere in the region.

The USA, however, does not represent such a reasonable proposition given the RBOC presence, etc. Europe has some emerging prospects, but they are primarily in the Central /Eastern European areas of influence, or in niche /resale areas of activity.

Asia has prospects, but the Chinese market is currently wavering despite its size and the Hong Kong market is virtually crowded out.

4)
"...one quarters delay in collections (especially when it was a significant increase in revenue over the previous quarter) should not be seen as a fundamental business floor (as with TMN)".

Answer:
True enough. But, when combined with a limited bank balance, a significant proportion of the quarter's revenues outstanding in receivables, etc, the comparisons can be made.

With your own obvious knowledge of telecoms, Yanlin, you would know that many operators are themselves pushing for longer settlement terms and shorter collection terms (in Australia, Asia and in Europe).

5)
"...Nor should it be compared to an outfit like TLO because (as you would know) there is a significant difference between a reseller to the retail market (TLO) and a wholesale switch/ gateway operator (ATC)".'

Answer:
Yes, except that TLO had its own international gateway switches in Sydney (plus, in Asia), and NTMi had its own international switching network in place.

To quote from the TLO ASX release of 4 January 2000:
1)
"(TLO) signed an Agreement with US based NTM Inc., a wholesale telephony carrier and its associated company Gogo.net Inc;
2)
"...expected to generate an additional AUD$142 million in revenue this financial year, with revenue in 2000/2001 expected to increase to
AUD$330 million...";
3)
TLO will issue the "vendors 14 million shares at 40 cents and 6 million listed options at 20 cents (total consideration AUD$6.8 million) to fund the agreement and has also been granted an option to purchase a further 3 million Telco shares at a price of 50 cents per share;
4)
"....NTM Inc. operates an international Gateway switched network";
5)
"...Under the agreement Telco will operate the NTM business and assets which include switches and points of presence (POPs) globally which are used for international trunking, call collection and tolling, ingress
and egress of international and domestic traffic including MUX equipment for data compression that optimises bandwidth between POPs";
6)
"...NTM has agreements and established relationships with the Concert consortium, Cable & Wireless, British Telecom and France Telecom";
7)
"...provides termination of voice traffic to Southeast Asia and utilises those carriers to terminate NTM's traffic internationally .... Associated Company Gogo.net Inc. has agreements with .... Level 3 to launch its pre-paid Internet products in to the USA market".

So, again I would argue that the similarities between TLO and ATC are there. It is, therefore, now up to ATC to demonstrate an altogether different fate.

6)
"...So, I urge a little more objectivity (and less dramatisation) when presenting the facts".

Answer:
Quite so. But, where's the dramatisation? Has ATC closed on the FNT deal? Is it experiencing difficulties in closing? What is ATC's cash position? This is not dramatisation. Just, simply questions that the ATC ASX announcements leave unanswered.

7)
"...The new directors understand that they need to be more sophisticated in their plans to finance these deals and the need to expand their investor base. Whilst this has been handled poorly to date, I believe it is being addressed and we should see some positive results shortly".

Answer:
On this, we are agreed.