INTAC International Announces Launch of Intac Purun's National 'Family-School Link Communication System' in China
December 02 2004 - 9:35PM
PR Newswire (US)
INTAC International Announces Launch of Intac Purun's National
'Family-School Link Communication System' in China * Family-School
Link Communication System ("FSLCS") to enhance the communication
between parents and schools across China * With a 2.5G license
provided by China Mobile and China Unicom, the FSLCS services will
be delivered via SMS and IVR services and over Intac Purun's
Internet Portal http://www.Joyba.com * Fast adoption and
distribution of FSLCS expected through partnering with the Ministry
of Education in China and Beijing Huana Xinlong Information and
Technology Development Ltd. * Market potential estimated to exceed
RMB 2 billion (US$240 million) per month HONG KONG, Dec. 2
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- INTAC International, Inc. (Nasdaq: INTN;
FSE: WKN 805768), a provider of a full-range of career development
services to students in China through Beijing Intac Purun
Educational Development Ltd. ("Intac Purun"), its joint venture
with China's Ministry of Education ("MOE"), today announced that
Intac Purun has been exclusively selected by the MOE to launch and
operate an integrated communication solution for elementary and
middle schools across China, the "Family-School Link Communication
System" ("FSLCS"), starting in March 2005. FSLCS is a real time
communication solution combining Internet and wireless technologies
that strives to fulfill the instant and interactive communication
needs of teachers and parents. Through FSLCS, parents can receive
frequent updates on their children via Short Message Services
("SMS") and Interactive Voice Recognition ("IVR") services on their
mobile handsets or over Intac Purun's Internet portal JOYBA
(http://www.joyba.com/). At the same time, teachers can exchange
questions, comments and feedback with parents instantaneously over
the same advanced telecommunication infrastructure. For elementary
and middle school education, effective communication between
teachers and parents is critical. Traditionally, there are only
limited channels through which teachers and parents communicate,
e.g. face-to- face meeting by appointment, postal mail or telephone
call. Most of the time, students themselves become the only
"messenger" between teachers and parents. Such limitations directly
result in the lack of effective and timely communication among
schools, teachers and parents about students' well-being, academic
performance and extracurricular activities. With FSLCS, parents
will have instant availability to their children's daily attendance
records, exam scores and event announcements, as well as school
news. The service, which will be offered by Intac Purun in
partnership with China Mobile Communications Corporation ("China
Mobile") and China United Communications Corporation ("China
Unicom"), China's leading mobile operators, will mainly focus on
the elementary and middle school markets in China where the
communication is most needed. Intac Purun believes that the target
market potential of FSLCS is enormous. According to published
statistics, there are more than 500,000 elementary and middle
schools in China with a total of over two hundred million students.
Based upon the market survey conducted by Intac Purun in selected
cities, the FSLCS solution is expected to be welcomed
enthusiastically by both parents and teachers. Intac Purun expects
revenues from FSLCS to begin in March 2005 and be derived primarily
from monthly customer service subscription through China Mobile and
China Unicom. It is estimated that the total potential market size
for FSLCS is over RMB 2 billion (US$240 million) per month. Besides
the full support from the MOE and the strong promotion to Chinese
elementary and middle schools, the launch of FSLCS is also
strengthened by Intac Purun's strategic partnership with Beijing
Huana Xinlong Information and Technology Development Ltd. ("Huana
Xinlong"). Huana Xinlong is a leading Chinese developer of
management software for educational institution administration with
products currently distributed and installed in more than 5,000
elementary and middle schools covering 12 Chinese provinces. With
the authorization of the MOE, Huana Xinlong is planning to expand
and strengthen its nation-wide market coverage during a
distribution campaign starting in January 2005. As Intac Purun's
strategic partner, Huana Xinlong will bundle the school-end
sub-system of the FSLCS solution with its current software and
system products. Leveraging on Huana Xinlong's extensive
distribution channel and market coverage, FSLCS has the potential
for a faster market adoption and an accelerated sales cycle. "With
our National Telecom Value-Added Service license issued by China's
Ministry of Information Industry in February 2004 and the 2.5G
wireless services license provided by China Mobile and China
Unicom, Intac Purun is qualified to provide wireless value-added
services to the Chinese mass market," said Wei Zhou, Chairman and
CEO of INTAC. "Intac Purun will differentiate itself from other
Wireless Value-Added Service providers by focusing on verticals
where Intac Purun has strategic core competencies to fulfill these
unique communication needs. With the support from the MOE, we
believe that the launch of FSLCS is another important step for us
to further complement and enhance our existing suite of education
related products and services." The Company's annual report on Form
10-KSB for the year ended December 31, 2003 and quarterly report on
Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2004 may be viewed at
the SEC's website http://www.sec.gov/. About INTAC International,
Inc. INTAC International, Inc. is focused on the exploitation of
strategic business opportunities available in China and the
Asia-Pacific Rim. With its joint venture with China's Ministry of
Education, Beijing Intac Purun Educational Development Ltd., INTAC
provides Chinese students exclusively with a full-range of
integrated career development, recruiting and lifestyle services.
These services are delivered through the Company's websites,
http://www.phrbank.com/ and http://www.joyba.com/, as well as its
print formats and its local Career Service Centers across China.
Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains certain
"forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements
involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements to differ
materially from those projected or implied. Factors that could
cause or contribute to such differences include, among other
things: changes in general business conditions; the impact of
competition in our industry, especially in the Asia- Pacific Rim;
the fact that we are an early stage company with an unproven
business model; our need for additional working capital,
particularly to the extent that we are able to locate a suitable
business opportunity; the added expense structure assumed by us as
a U.S. public company; political and economic events and conditions
in jurisdictions in which we operate; PRC Internet laws and
regulations that are unclear and will likely change in the near
future; restrictions on foreign investment in the PRC Internet
sector that are imposed by the PRC government; the PRC government
that may prevent us from distributing; regulation and censorship of
information distribution in China which may adversely affect our
business; political and economic policies of the PRC government;
the risk of the loss of the agreements, or the exclusivity terms,
with the Education Management Information Center; the high cost of
Internet access that may limit the growth of the Internet in China
and impede our growth; advertising and e-commerce customers that
have only limited experience using the Internet for advertising or
commerce purposes; the acceptance of the Internet as a commerce
platform in China which depends on the resolution of problems
relating to fulfillment and electronic payment; concerns about
security of e-commerce transactions and confidentiality of
information on the Internet that may increase our costs, reduce the
use of our Internet portal and impede our growth; our network
operations that may be vulnerable to hacking, viruses and other
disruptions, which may make our products and services less
attractive and reliable; changes in interest rates, foreign
currency fluctuations and capital market conditions; and other
factors including those detailed under the heading "Business Risk
Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's annual report on Form
10-KSB for the year ended December 31, 2003 and quarterly report on
Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2004, as filed with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. We disclaim any intention
or obligation to revise any forward-looking statements whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise. INTAC
undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements
made in this media release. Contact: J. David Darnell, Senior Vice
President and Chief Financial Officer, 469-916-9891, for further
information. Internet: http://www.intac-international.com/
DATASOURCE: INTAC International, Inc. CONTACT: J. David Darnell,
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of INTAC
International, Inc., +1-469-916-9891 Web site: http://www.intac.cn/
http://www.intac-international.com/ http://www.phrbank.com/
http://www.joyba.com/
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