AXNP up 33% to .008 from morning newz:
TORONTO, Oct 11, 2005 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Allixon Corp (AXNP pink sheets) and MeridCom Inc. are pleased to report that the Company's pre-paid Internet service is now available at more than 200,000 retail locations throughout the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Daniel Johanning, President of MeridCom, noted that, "Our three-year old company, has undergone explosive growth, and we are definitely at the leading edge of the "pay-as-you-surf" Internet access markets, which are projected to double in revenues over the next two years. We also believe that there is excellent growth potential for MeridCom's products as the economy tightens. We are going to aggressively market our pre-paid cards and Internet service to consumers that are being squeezed by higher gasoline and energy bills, rising interest rates and credit card payments."
Compared to traditional Internet services, MeridCom's product puts the consumer in control of the cost of Internet access, giving them the flexibility to buy the time they need, when they need it. No more monthly bills or credit card charges - MeridCom's prepaid access card can be purchased with cash and used anywhere, anytime.
MeridCom is a leading provider of private-label Internet services to most of the major pre-paid phone card companies in North America. While consumers may not immediately recognize the "MeridCom" name, their products are sold under many different brand names. Additionally, MeridCom has more than 18,000 local access dial-up numbers spread across all of the major ISP networks.
The Market For Pre-Paid Internet Access Is Small, But Growing Rapidly
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While still relatively small compared to the prepaid phone calling card business, prepaid Internet has strong potential for considerable future growth among businesses and consumers.
In-Stat/MDR estimates that U.S. pre-paid Internet retail services revenues have grown from about $30 million in 2002 to approximately $100 million in 2005, and should approach the $200 million level in 2007 (a 45% CAGR in revenues)
Almost 20% of businesses surveyed by In-Stat indicated that they are likely to purchase pre-paid Internet services in the coming year. One company stated that they had reduced their Internet access costs for traveling employees from $100,000 to just $12,000 per year simply by switching to a pre-paid Internet service, and only paying for the time that their employees used.
"The pay-as-you-go flexibility of pre-paid Internet services offers an attractive alternative to subscription Internet services for many different types of users. Travelers, infrequent users of the Internet, consumers without credit, and a variety of other groups can gain considerable cost savings or convenient access to the Internet using these services," says Henry Goldberg, a Senior Analyst with In-Stat/MDR.
In a recent survey of business end-users, In-Stat/MDR found that about 10% of the surveyed organizations had purchased a prepaid Internet service for some of their employees at some time in the past and nearly 20% said they were likely to purchase a pre-paid Internet service in the next year. To date, the manufacturing, education and government sectors have the highest percentage of organizations that have purchased pre-paid Internet services
