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SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

 


 

FORM 10-K

 

  x   ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2004

 

OR

 

  ¨   TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

Commission File No. 0-29092

 


 

PRIMUS TELECOMMUNICATIONS GROUP, INCORPORATED

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Delaware

(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

 

54-1708481

(I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

7901 Jones Branch Road, Suite 900, McLean, VA

(Address of principal executive offices)

 

22102

(Zip Code)

 

(703) 902-2800

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

 

Title of each class


 

Name of each exchange on which registered


None

  N/A

 

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

Common Stock, par value $.01 per share

 


 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.  Yes  x    No   ¨

 

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of the registrants’ knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.    ¨

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is an accelerated filer (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).  Yes  x    No   ¨

 

Non-affiliates of Primus Telecommunications Group, Incorporated held 69,480,336 shares of Common Stock as of June 30, 2004. The fair market value of the stock held by non-affiliates is $352,960,108 based on the sale price of the shares on June 30, 2004.

 

As of February 28, 2005, 90,066,651 shares of Common Stock, par value $.01, were outstanding.

 

Documents Incorporated by Reference:

 

Portions of the definitive Proxy Statement to be delivered to Stockholders in connection with the Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference into Part III.


 

 


Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

Description

 

Item


        Page

     Part I     

1.

   Business    3

2.

   Properties    27

3.

   Legal Proceedings    28

4.

   Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders    29
Part II

5.

   Market for Registrant’s Common Equity and Related Stockholder Matters    30

6.

   Selected Financial Data    32

7.

   Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations Overview    33

7A.

   Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk    59

8.

   Financial Statements and Supplementary Data    60

9.

   Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure    60

9A.

   Controls and Procedures    60

9B.

   Other Information    61
Part III

10.

   Directors and Executive Officers of the Registrant    62

11.

   Executive Compensation    62

12.

   Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management    62

13.

   Certain Relationships and Related Transactions    62

14.

   Principal Accountant Fees and Services    63
Part IV

15.

   Exhibit and Financial Statement Schedules    64

 

 

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PART I

 

ITEM 1.    BUSINESS

 

General

 

We, Primus Telecommunications Group, Incorporated, are an integrated telecommunications services provider offering a portfolio of international and domestic voice, wireless, Internet, voice-over-Internet protocol (VOIP), data and hosting services to business and residential retail customers and other carriers located primarily in the United States, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and Europe. Our focus is to service the demand for high quality, competitively priced international communications services that is being driven by the globalization of the world’s economies, the worldwide trend toward telecommunications deregulation and the growth of Internet, VOIP, wireless and data traffic.

 

We target customers with significant telecommunications needs, including small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), multinational corporations, residential customers, and other telecommunications carriers and resellers. We provide services over our global network, which consists of:

 

    18 domestic and international gateway switching systems (the hardware/software devices that direct the voice traffic across the network) in North America, Australia, Europe and Japan;

 

    approximately 250 interconnection points to our network, or points of presence (POPs), within our service regions and other markets;

 

    undersea and land-based fiber optic transmission line systems that we own or lease and that carry voice and data traffic across the network; and

 

    global network and data centers that use a high-bandwidth network standard (asynchronous transfer mode) and Internet-based protocol (ATM+IP) to connect with the network. The global VOIP network is based on routers and gateways with an open network architecture which connects our partners in over 150 countries.

 

The services we offer can be classified into three main product categories: voice, data/Internet and VOIP services. Within these three main product categories, we offer our customers a wide range of services, including:

 

    international and domestic long distance services over the traditional network;

 

    wholesale and retail VOIP services;

 

    wireless services;

 

    prepaid calling cards, toll-free services and reorigination services;

 

    dial-up, dedicated and high-speed Internet access;

 

    local voice services;

 

    ATM+IP broadband services; and

 

    managed and shared Web hosting services and applications.

 

Generally, we price our services competitively with the major carriers operating in our principal service regions. We expect to continue to generate net revenue from internal growth through sales and marketing efforts focused on customers with significant communications needs (international and domestic voice, wireless, VOIP, Internet and data), including SMEs, multinational corporations, residential customers, particularly ethnic customers, and other telecommunications carriers and resellers, as well as acquisitions.

 

In February 2004, we announced a strategy to transform the company from its core business of long distance voice and dial-up Internet service provider (ISP) services into an integrated provider of local, VOIP, broadband

 

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and wireless services. To this end, we have introduced new strategic initiatives in local, wireless, broadband digital subscriber line (DSL) and VOIP services and have been accelerating the implementation of these initiatives throughout the second half of 2004, including the initial phases of a DSL network build-out in Australia. We believe these efforts will enhance our bundled service capabilities, and as a result, reduce the competitive vulnerability of our core retail long distance and dial-up ISP businesses. They should also provide us with long-term growth potential in local, wireless and broadband markets where we have previously not been a significant provider.

 

Operating Highlights and Accomplishments in 2004 and subsequent events:

 

    We increased net revenue by 5% to $1.4 billion for the year ended December 31, 2004 from $1.3 billion for the year ended December 31, 2003.

 

    Our income from operations was $39.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2004, a $30.5 million decrease from income of $69.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2003.

 

    We increased net cash provided by operating activities by $2.3 million to $69.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2004 from $66.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2003.

 

    We introduced retail VOIP products in the United States and Canada. In January 2004, we launched a retail VOIP product in Canada. In June 2004, we launched in the United States our Lingo retail VOIP product, which offers unlimited calling plans including destinations in western Europe and certain countries in Asia, unlimited calling between Lingo subscribers and the issuance of phone numbers that are local for calls originating in certain foreign countries.

 

    We launched new wireless service on a resale basis in Canada and the United States.

 

    In February 2004, we acquired Australian-based AOL/7 Pty Ltd (AOL/7) which was a joint venture between America Online Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., AAPT Limited, a unit of the Telecom New Zealand Group, and Seven Network Limited. This acquisition provided us with the customer base, content, content development and online advertising business of AOL/7, as well as a license for the AOL brand in Australia for a fixed period, for a total consideration of $19.5 million.

 

    In April 2004, we acquired Magma Communications Ltd. (“Magma”), a provider of Internet solutions to corporate, government and residential customers in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal for a total consideration of $11.3 million (15.1 million Canadian dollars (CAD)).

 

    In June 2004, we acquired Canada-based Onramp Network Services Inc. (“Onramp”), a provider of Internet services and solutions for businesses for a total consideration of $4.1 million (5.6 million CAD).

 

    In July 2004, we acquired certain assets of Canadian based 3588599 Canada Inc., dba Sun Telecom Group (“Sun Telecom”), a Canadian telecommunications provider, including certain customer contracts, access to a portion of the customer base and certain related assets for a total consideration of $1.6 million (2.2 million CAD).

 

    In December 2004, we acquired certain assets of Wiznet Inc., a provider of Internet services and solutions, for a total consideration of $1.3 million (1.6 million CAD).

 

    In January 2004, we completed the sale of $240.0 million 8% senior notes due 2014 (“2004 Senior Notes”), which we used primarily to retire higher interest debt and also to extend our debt maturity profile.

 

   

We continued our debt reduction efforts and improved liquidity by retiring $198.5 million in principal amount of our senior notes and convertible subordinated debentures, which were funded in part through the proceeds from the 2004 Senior Notes. In particular, the following debt securities were retired during the year ended December 31, 2004; $109.9 million principal amount of the 11¼% senior notes due 2009 (“January 1999 Senior Notes”), $46.6 million of the 97/8% senior notes due 2008 (“1998 Senior Notes”), $33.0 million of the 12¾% senior notes due 2009 (“October 1999 Senior Notes”), $5.0 million of the

 

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2004 Senior Notes and $4.0 million of the 5¾% convertible subordinated debentures due 2004 (“2000 Convertible Subordinated Debentures”).

 

    We further reduced debt by repaying early 13.0 million CAD ($10.0 million at December 31, 2003) of a financing agreement and $6.1 million debt obligation with Cable & Wireless (C&W) during the year ended December 31, 2004, which were funded in part through the proceeds from the 2004 Senior Notes.

 

    We announced on February 18, 2005 that our direct wholly-owned subsidiary, Primus Telecommunications Holding, Inc. (PTHI), secured a six-year, $100 million senior secured term loan facility (the “Facility”). Terms of the Facility include pricing at the London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) + 6.50% and no financial maintenance covenants. The Facility is guaranteed by the Company and certain of PTHI’s subsidiaries and is secured by certain assets of PTHI and its guarantor subsidiaries. We plan to use the proceeds for general corporate purposes, including the accelerated implementation of our new product initiatives and potential repurchases of certain currently outstanding debt.

 

Operating Highlights and Accomplishments from our Inception through 2003:

 

    We were incorporated in February 1994, and through the first half of 1995 we were a development stage enterprise involved in various start-up activities.

 

    We began generating revenue during March 1995.

 

    In March 1996, we completed our first acquisition with the purchase of Axicorp Pty. Ltd., a switchless reseller in Australia.

 

    In November 1996, we made our initial public offering to fund growth of our operating subsidiaries.

 

    In 1996, we entered the United Kingdom market as a start-up operation.

 

    In 1997, we raised $225 million in senior notes and warrants for continued expansion, including network equipment purchases, funding for general corporate purposes, and potential acquisitions. We entered the Canadian market, the Japanese market, the German market and expanded our service offerings in Australia through acquisitions.

 

    In June 1998, we acquired the operations of TresCom which expanded the scope and coverage of our communications network.

 

During 1998 and 1999, to continue our expansion, we raised an additional $645.5 million from three senior note issuances and conducted a secondary equity offering of 8 million shares.

 

In 1999, among other things, we:

 

    expanded our Canadian operations by acquiring London Telecom, a Canadian long distance provider and purchasing a residential long distance customer base, customer support assets and residential Internet customers and network from AT&T Canada and ACC;

 

    purchased Telegroup’s global retail customer businesses, which included retail customers primarily in North America and Europe; and

 

    organized our Internet and data services business into a new subsidiary, iPRIMUS.com; acquired GlobalServe, a Canadian ISP; a majority interest in Matrix, a Brazilian ISP; TCP/IP and TouchNet, two independent German ISPs; and the remaining interest in Hotkey Internet Services; entered into agreements with Covad Communications and NorthPoint Communications to offer DSL services in the United States; acquired Digital Select, a provider of DSL Internet access and Web content; 1492 Technologies, a Web site development, consulting and service firm; and began to build an IP-based network platform in Australia.

 

In 2000, among other things, we:

 

   

acquired LCR Telecom Group, Plc; an international telecommunications company operating principally in European markets, providing least cost routing, international callback and other value-added services,

 

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primarily to SMEs; purchased CTE Networks (CTE), a Canadian long distance reseller; purchased A-Tel GmbH, a German reseller of voice traffic to SMEs;

 

    expanded our Internet and data services business, enhanced by acquisitions such as Eco Software, Inc. (“Shore.Net”), a United States-based business- focused ISP, Seker BBS S.A. and Nexus Comunicaciones S.A., two Spanish ISPs, and Infinity Online Systems, a Canada-based ISP; and

 

    issued $300 million in convertible subordinated debentures.

 

In 2001, 2002 and 2003, we focused on a three-pronged strategy that was initiated at the end of 2000, which involved improving operating results, reducing debt, and raising additional financing.

 

Initiatives and results from our efforts to improve operating results:

 

    We focused on higher margin retail customers and services.

 

    We de-emphasized or exited certain low margin businesses, and emphasized operations in core markets including the United States, Australia, Canada and Europe.

 

    Our Australian and Canadian subsidiaries both achieved their highest levels to date of income from operations for a full fiscal year.

 

    In September 2002, we signed an agreement to acquire the United States-based SME voice customer base of C&W. We acquired that portion of the SME voice customer base that was migrated to our network over a four-month period.

 

    In 2003, we acquired three Canadian ISPs, one Canadian local wireless service provider and a Canadian prepaid calling card company for an aggregate purchase price of approximately $10.7 million in cash. The purchase price for the prepaid calling card company may increase based on additional consideration to be paid, as provided by the terms of the acquisition agreement, if the acquired company’s adjusted revenues exceed certain targeted levels.

 

Initiatives and results from our efforts to reduce debt:

 

    We reduced debt during 2001, 2002 and 2003 by $588.9 million, $66.6 million and $58.5 million, respectively, to $542.5 million at December 31, 2003 from $1.3 billion in 2000, with a gain on early extinguishment of debt of $491.8 million, $36.7 million and $12.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2001, 2002 and 2003.

 

    We reduced interest expense to $60.7 million in 2003 from $132.1 million in 2000 from the principal reduction of senior notes, convertible debentures and vendor and equipment financing.

 

Initiatives and results from our efforts to raise additional funds:

 

In 2002:

 

    We signed an agreement to issue and sell $42 million of Series C convertible preferred stock (“Series C Preferred”), including commitments of $39.9 million from fund affiliates of American International Group, Incorporated (AIG). We received $33 million on December 31, 2002 in the initial closing of the Series C Preferred offering.

 

In 2003:

 

    We received stockholder approval for and closed the remaining $9 million investment in our Series C Preferred by fund affiliates of AIG.

 

    All outstanding shares of our Series C Preferred were converted into an aggregate of 22,616,990 shares of our common stock on November 4, 2003.

 

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    We obtained $9.5 million of funding through an extension of an accounts receivable facility with Textron Financial, Inc. (“Textron”).

 

    We completed an offering of $132.0 million in principal amount of 33/4% convertible senior notes due 2010 (“2003 Convertible Senior Notes”), which we used primarily to retire higher interest debt and to extend our debt maturity profile. The 2003 Convertible Senior Notes are convertible into shares of our common stock at an initial conversion price of $9.3234 per share.

 

Other Events:

 

    Our 2002 results reflect the deconsolidation of three non-core foreign investments, which resulted from: the partial divestment of interests in Cards & Parts, our German wireless accessories business, which subsequently filed for insolvency administration; the relinquishment of control rights concerning Bekkoame Internet, Inc. (“Bekko”), our Internet and data investment in Japan; and an insolvency administration filing for InterNeXt, our Internet and data subsidiary in France.

 

    In 2003, our common stock is once again traded on the Nasdaq National Market after a period of trading on the Nasdaq SmallCap Market.

 

    On June 30, 2003, the Russell 3000 Index included our common stock.

 

Strategy

 

Having essentially completed our global network infrastructure deployment, except for the Australia DSL network build-out, our primary objectives are to continue to build scale in our core markets by adding customers, traffic and new services; and continue to improve our profitability, cash flow and balance sheet. Key elements of our strategy to achieve these objectives are the following:

 

    Transform to an Integrated Provider of Voice, VOIP, Broadband and Wireless Services. In 2004, we began the process to transform the company from its core business of long distance voice and dial-up ISP services into an integrated provider of local and long distance voice, VOIP, broadband and wireless services. We have introduced new strategic initiatives in local, wireless, broadband and VOIP services and have been accelerating the implementation of these initiatives throughout the second half of 2004, including a DSL network build-out in Australia. These efforts will enhance our bundled service capabilities, and as a result, we believe that these efforts should reduce the competitive vulnerability of our core retail long distance and ISP businesses. They will also provide us with long-term growth potential in local, wireless and broadband markets where we have previously not been a significant provider.

 

    Bundling of Traditional Voice Services with New Product Initiatives: By bundling our traditional long distance voice services with local, broadband and wireless services, we seek to increase net revenue per customer and improve our ability to attract and retain business and residential customers. To this end, we have added new services to offer to both existing and new customers. We are specifically targeting growth areas of local, wireless and broadband. Our approach in these areas has common elements: focus on bundling services to end-user customers with international calling patterns; leverage our existing global voice, data and Internet network; and utilize our established distribution channels and back-office systems.

 

    Focus on Profitable Markets and Higher Margin Retail Customers and Services: We are focused on specific, large, developed markets, where we look to take market share away from the dominant telecommunications carriers. Our target customer base consists of SMEs, multinational corporations and residential customers, particularly ethnic customers, who have international telecommunications needs, in addition to needs for domestic voice, Internet, wireless and data services. We offer our services at competitive prices.

 

We have grown our net revenue from $1.0 billion for the year ended December 31, 2002 to $1.4 billion for the year ended December 31, 2004, primarily as a result of our expanding prepaid calling card,

 

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Internet access and retail services, as well as our fourth quarter 2002 acquisition of the SME voice customer base of C&W in the United States. In addition, our net revenue growth was substantially improved in 2003 and 2004 by the weakening of the United States dollar (USD) against the currencies of our principal foreign markets in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and Europe. For additional information regarding the impact of fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates on our results of operations, see “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.”

 

In addition to focusing on net revenue growth initiatives, we also concentrate on high margin customers and products and monitor our cost structure to improve our income from operations. While we are seeing some pressure on our income from operations as we accelerate the roll-out of our new product initiatives, we have improved our income from operations from a loss of $3.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2002 to income from operations of $39.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2004.

 

    Leverage Our Global Network Infrastructure: We have invested in developing our global, voice and data network and our product capabilities. By increasing the volume of voice and data traffic that we carry over our network, we are able to reduce transmission costs and other operating costs as a percentage of net revenue, improve service quality and enhance our ability to introduce new products and services. In addition, by leveraging multiple customer segments in different geographical regions, including retail and carrier customers, we achieve greater utilization of our network assets, because our network experiences multiple periods of peak usage throughout each day. We believe the current network meets the near-term needs of our current and prospective voice customers. However, to support our broadband services in Australia, we are accelerating our DSL network build-out in Australia. We expect our capital expenditures to be approximately 4% of net revenue in 2005, as compared to 3% in 2004, and 2% in 2003.

 

    Improve Our Liquidity through Refinancing Activities: We have reduced our long-term obligations from $1.3 billion as of December 31, 2000, to $559.4 million as of December 31, 2004, and our interest expense from $132.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2000 to $50.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2004. In September 2003, we raised $132 million through the issuance of our 2003 Convertible Senior Notes, and in January 2004, we issued $240 million in debt through the completion of the sale of our 2004 Senior Notes. The proceeds of these offerings were used primarily to retire higher interest debt and extend our debt maturity profile. By extending the maturities of our obligations and reducing interest expense through refinancing activities, we seek to improve both our short-term and long-term liquidity. In 2005, we raised $100 million through a term loan facility which significantly improved our liquidity (see Note 25, “Subsequent Events”). We will continue to look for opportunities to deliver our balance sheet.

 

Description of Operating Markets

 

The following is a description of our operations in each of our four primary markets. Management organizes the enterprise into geographic areas—North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific. The United States and Canadian operating markets are the significant portions of our North America market, and the Australian market is the substantial portion of the Asia-Pacific market. See the footnote within Item 8—”Financial Statements and Supplementary Data—Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements—Operating Segment and Related Information,” for further information regarding our segments.

 

United States.    The United States is one of our four primary markets, representing 18% of our 2004 net revenue. We provide international and domestic voice, data, Internet and VOIP services to SMEs, residential customers, multinational corporations and other telecommunication carriers. Beginning in 2005, we will provide wireless service on a resale basis. We operate international gateway telephone switches in the New York City area and Los Angeles, which are connected with countries in Europe, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region through owned and leased international fiber cable systems. We lease and own domestic fiber in the United States to interconnect our switches, data centers, and POPs. POPs are our interconnection points with other

 

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networks. We maintain direct sales organizations in Massachusetts and Virginia to sell to business customers and have inbound telemarketing centers in Florida, Virginia and Puerto Rico. To reach residential customers, we utilize telemarketing services, and we advertise in national and regional ethnic newspapers, other publications, and on television to offer competitive rates for international and domestic telephone calls, data, Internet and VOIP services. We also sell retail VOIP services through interactive marketing. We also utilize independent agents to reach and enhance sales to both business and residential customers and have a direct sales force for marketing international services to other telecommunication service providers, including long distance companies, ISPs and VOIP service providers. We maintain customer service centers in Florida and Virginia and also outsource selected customer service functions. We operate a 24-hour global network management control center in Virginia that monitors our global voice, Internet and data. We offer dial-up and DSL Internet access services to business and residential customers. We also provide managed and shared Web hosting services through our data center located in Lynn, Massachusetts. Additionally, we provide local and international long distance voice services, VOIP, and Internet services in Puerto Rico.

 

Australia.    We are the fourth largest full service telecommunications company, based on revenues, providing domestic and international long distance services, data and Internet access services, as well as local broadband and wireless service on a resale basis, to corporate, SMEs and residential customers. Our Australian operations represent 28% of our 2004 net revenue. We have a nationwide domestic long distance network using Northern Telecom switches in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane with over 100 POPs covering more than 90% of Telstra (the dominant carrier and former monopoly in Australia) local exchanges. We are in the initial phases of a DSL network build-out. We maintain 24-hour customer service and network management control centers.

 

We are the fourth largest ISP, based on market share, in Australia. We have a data center in Melbourne which offers hosting and e-commerce applications and services. We market our services through a combination of direct sales to corporate and SME customers and independent agents, which market to retail business and residential customers, and media advertising aimed at residential customers who make a high volume of international calls.

 

Canada.    Canada is another of our primary markets, representing 18% of our 2004 net revenue. We are one of the largest alternative consumer carriers in Canada based on net revenue. We provide international and domestic voice, Internet, data, VOIP and wireless services to SMEs, residential customers, enterprises, government agencies and other telecommunication carriers and have sales and customer service offices in key cities throughout Canada, including Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. We operate international gateway switches in Toronto and Vancouver, maintain POPs in Ottawa, Montreal and Calgary, and operate a nationwide integrated network backbone for our voice, data, Internet and private line services. Each of the 24 nodes on the backbone is equipped with Sonet add/drop, ATM, frame and IP equipment to provide a complete spectrum of voice and data communications products to our customers. We operate two Nortel DMS 500 switches in Toronto and Vancouver, which provide on-net equal access coverage to an estimated 90% of the population of Canada. We operate a voice dial access network which consists of some 70 POPs across the country. We also operate a 7,500 square foot Internet data center in Ottawa and a 2,000 square foot Internet data center in Toronto and have data centers co-located with our switch sites in Vancouver and Toronto through which we offer shared and dedicated hosting and co-location services.

 

We have an extensive Internet network and provide dial-up and Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) Internet coverage to over 700 communities across Canada through a network of 51 POPs.

 

We market our services through a combination of direct sales to corporate and SME customers and media advertising aimed at residential customers, and affinity channels.

 

Europe.    We operate as a licensed carrier in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The European market represents 33% of our 2004 net revenue. Our network

 

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consists of core backbone voice/data nodes in London, Frankfurt and Paris with nodes in Milan, Madrid, Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Zurich. Our European network interconnects with our global network. In London, we have a data center for Web hosting and other services.

 

Our European operation is headquartered in London. We provide voice and data services to residential customers, small businesses, and other telecommunications carriers. We maintain a European multilingual customer service call center in Glasgow, Scotland. We market our services across Europe using a combination of direct sales, agents, and direct-media advertising. We offer prepaid services in most major European countries, which are our largest and fastest growing products in Europe. Throughout Europe, a large portion of call origination is via wireless phones. In most cases, wireless carriers’ tariffs for terminating international minutes are higher than fixed line operators. Through the sale of prepaid services to wireless phone users, our European businesses are now targeting international minutes originated from a wireless phone to bring onto our global network for termination. We operate Ericsson AXE-10 switches and provide services to retail business and residential and carrier customers in Paris, Frankfurt, and London.

 

Services

 

We offer a broad array of communications services:

 

    International and Domestic Long Distance. We provide international long distance voice services terminating in over 240 countries, and domestic long distance voice services in our core operating markets.

 

    VOIP Services. We offer retail and wholesale VOIP services to ISPs, telecommunications carriers worldwide, and retail customers both over the public Internet as well as direct point-to-point VOIP services over our ATM+IP network.

 

    Internet and Data Services. We offer ATM, frame relay, and Internet/IP services which are available to customers in the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom. In Australia, we offer data transfer services over ATM and frame relay networks in addition to Internet access services through dial-up, accelerated dial-up and DSL. We also offer Web hosting, managed hosting, dedicated hosting, virtual private networking (VPN) and co-location services in our primary operating markets.

 

    Prepaid Service. We offer prepaid services that may be used by customers for domestic and international telephone calls both within and outside of their home country. In Europe, we offer prepaid services to wireless phone users which bring international minutes originating from a wireless phone onto our global network.

 

    Toll-free Services. We offer domestic and international toll-free services within selected countries in our principal service regions.

 

    Reorigination Services. In selected countries, we provide call reorigination services which allow non-United States country to country calling to originate from the United States, thereby taking advantage of lower United States rates.

 

    Local Switched Services. We offer local service on a resale basis, primarily in Australia and Canada.

 

    Wireless. We offer wireless services on a resale basis in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, and we launched a resale service in the United States market in the beginning of 2005. In Europe, we also offer PRIMUS-branded “intelligent” handsets that allow customers to access directly our network by pressing a single button located on the handset.

 

Network

 

General.    We operate a global telecommunications network consisting of international and domestic switches and related peripheral equipment, carrier-grade routers and switches for Internet and data services, undersea and trans-continental fiber optic cable systems, leased satellite and cable capacity. To ensure high-

 

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quality communications services, our network employs digital switching and fiber optic technologies, incorporates the use of SS7/C7 signaling, and is supported by comprehensive network monitoring and technical support services. Our global network consists of the following:

 

    a global backbone connecting our international gateway switches, each of which is connected to our domestic and international network as well as those of major carriers in each particular market;

 

    a domestic long distance network presence within certain countries;

 

    a combination of owned and leased transmission facilities, resale arrangements and foreign carrier agreements; and

 

    ATM switches and IP routers in select markets around the world, which leverage our fiber optic cable facilities and are connected to our approximately 250 POPs, as well as Internet peering/transit points with other carriers. This network also allows us to provide VOIP on a global basis. In select markets, we have installed or leased DSL equipment to offer high-speed Internet access.

 

Switching Systems.    Our network consists of 18 carrier-grade domestic and international gateway switch systems throughout Europe, North America, Australia, and Japan. We also have deployed and operate an additional 20 enhanced switching platforms in support of specialized products.

 

The locations and types of our switching systems follow:

 

Location


   Type of Switch

New York City area

   International Gateway

Los Angeles

   International Gateway

Toronto

   International Gateway

Vancouver

   International Gateway

London

   International Gateway

Paris

   International Gateway

Frankfurt

   International Gateway

Sydney

   International Gateway

Tokyo

   International Gateway

Copenhagen

   International Gateway

Milan

   International Gateway

Madrid

   International Gateway

Puerto Rico

   International Gateway

New York City

   Domestic

Adelaide

   Domestic

Brisbane

   Domestic

Melbourne

   Domestic

Perth

   Domestic

 

In addition, we operate a global VOIP network with an open network architecture which connects with our partners in over 150 countries through the use of open settlement protocol (OSP).

 

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Fiber Optic Cable Systems.    We have purchased and leased undersea and land-based fiber optic cable transmission capacity to connect our various switching systems. We either lease lines on a term basis for a fixed cost or purchase economic interests in transmission capacity through minimum assignable ownership units (MAOUs) or indefeasible rights of use (IRUs) to international traffic destinations. The following chart sets forth a listing of the undersea fiber optic cable systems in which we have capacity (which includes both MAOUs and IRUs):

 

Cable System


   Countries Served

Gemini

   United States—United Kingdom

CANTAT

   United States—Canada

CANUS

   United States—Canada

FLAG

   United Kingdom—Italy
United Kingdom—Israel

UK—France 5

   United Kingdom—France

Arianne

   France—Greece

CIOS

   United Kingdom—Israel

Aphrodite

   United Kingdom—Cyprus

TPC 5

   United States—Japan

APCN

   Japan—Indonesia

Jasaurus

   Indonesia—Australia

Atlantic Crossing-1

   United States—United Kingdom

Columbus II

   United States—Mexico

Americas I

   United States—Brazil
United States—United States Virgin Islands
United States Virgin Islands—Trinidad

PTAT-1

   United States—Bermuda

CARAC

   United States—United States Virgin Islands

Taino-Carib

   United States Virgin Islands—Puerto Rico

ECFS

   United States Virgin Islands—Antigua—
St. Martin—St.Kitts—Martinique—Guyana

CANTAT 3

   United States—Denmark

ODIN

   Netherlands—Denmark

RIOJA

   Netherlands—Belgium

Pacific Crossing I

   United States—Japan

SEMEWE 3

   Germany—Cyprus

Antillas 1

   Puerto Rico—Dominican Republic

Southern Cross

   United States—Australia

Americas II

   United States—Brazil—Puerto Rico

South Atlantic Crossing

   United States—Brazil

Columbus III

   United States—Portugal—Spain—Italy

 

In December 1999, we agreed to purchase $23.2 million of fiber capacity from Qwest Communications, which provides us with ATM+IP based international broadband backbone. The backbone is comprised of nearly 11,000 route miles of fiber optic cable in the United States and overseas as well as private Internet peering at select sites in the United States and overseas. In March 2000, we agreed to purchase an additional $20.8 million of fiber capacity and as of June 30, 2001 had fulfilled the total purchase obligation. As of June 30, 2002, we had made cash payments of $27.6 million and settled our outstanding payment obligation of $16.4 million with Qwest Communications for $10.0 million in cash, which has been paid in full. We recorded this transaction in accordance with FIN No. 26, “Accounting for Purchase of a Leased Asset by the Lessee during the Term of the Lease,” and accordingly, the transaction resulted in a reduction of property and equipment of $7.2 million during the three months ended June 30, 2002.

 

In June 2000, we purchased from AT&T Canada for $20.6 million (26.7 million CAD) six rings of SONET protected OC-12 capacity across Canada. This capacity provides a national backbone network for Primus Canada. This purchase price has been paid in full.

 

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In December 2000, we entered into a financing arrangement to purchase fiber optic capacity in Australia for $38.3 million (51.1 million Australian dollars (AUD)) from Optus Networks Pty. Limited. As of December 31, 2001, we had fulfilled the total purchase obligation. We signed a promissory note payable over a four-year term ending in April 2005 bearing interest at a rate of 14.31%. During the three months ended June 30, 2003, we renegotiated the payment terms extending the payment schedule through April 2007, and lowering the interest rate to 10.2%. At December 31, 2004 and 2003, we had a liability recorded in the amount of $16.5 million (21.3 million AUD) and $21.9 million (29.2 million AUD), respectively.

 

In the three months ended September 30, 2001, we accepted delivery of fiber optic capacity on an IRU basis from Southern Cross Cables Limited (SCCL). We and SCCL entered into an arrangement financing the capacity purchase. In the three months ended December 31, 2001, we renegotiated the payment terms with SCCL. Under the new terms, the payments for each capacity segment will be made over a five-year term ending in April 2008, which added two years to the original three-year term, and continues to bear interest at 6.0% above LIBOR (7.12% at December 31, 2003). We further agreed to purchase $12.2 million of additional fiber optic capacity from SCCL under the IRU agreement. As of December 31, 2003, we had fulfilled the total purchase obligation to SCCL. At December 31, 2004 and 2003, we had a liability recorded under this agreement in the amount of $16.6 million and $18.6 million, respectively.

 

Foreign Carrier Agreements.    In selected countries where competition with the traditional Post Telegraph and Telecommunications companies (PTTs) is limited, we have entered into foreign carrier transit agreements with PTTs or other service providers which permit us to provide traffic into and receive return traffic from these countries. We have existing foreign carrier agreements with PTTs and other licensed operators in nearly every major country.

 

Network Management and Control    We own and operate network management control centers in McLean, Virginia; Toronto, Canada; London, England; and Sydney, Australia, which are used to monitor and control a majority of the switching systems, global data network, and other digital transmission equipment used in our network. These network management control centers operate seven days per week, 24 hours per day, 365 days per year.

 

Network for Data and Internet Services.    We have built an Internet backbone network that enables our global network to carry Internet and data traffic for our business, residential, carrier and ISP customers. This network uses packet switched technology, including IP and ATM. This network allows us to offer to existing and new customers data and voice communications services, including, in selected geographic areas, dial-up and dedicated Internet access, Web hosting, e-commerce, managed VPN services, VOIP, ATM and frame relay data services.

 

Customers

 

Our residential sales and marketing strategy targets residential customers who generate high international and domestic long distance traffic volumes, particularly ethnic customers. We believe that such customers are attracted to us because of competitive pricing as compared to traditional carriers, and in-language customer service and support. We are now offering VOIP, Internet access, local access and wireless products to our residential customers in select markets and expanding our Internet and data offerings to additional markets and bundling them with traditional voice services.

 

Our business sales and marketing efforts primarily target SMEs with significant international long distance traffic. We also target large multinational businesses. Many of the services we provide in the United States, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Europe include long distance voice, Internet, data and the resale of wireless services.

 

We compete for the business of other telecommunications carriers and resellers primarily on the basis of price and service quality. Sales to other carriers and resellers help us maximize the utilization of our network and

 

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thereby reduce our fixed costs per minute of use, as well as permitting our network to be interconnected with other major carriers, thereby providing global coverage.

 

Business, residential and carrier revenues for the year ended December 31, 2004 were distributed 24%, 57%, and 19%, respectively, and for the year ended December 31, 2003 were distributed 27%, 53%, and 20%, respectively. No single customer accounted for greater than 10% of net revenue for the years ended December 31, 2004, 2003 and 2002.

 

Sales and Marketing

 

We market our services through a variety of sales channels, as summarized below:

 

    Direct Sales Force. As of December 31, 2004, our direct sales force included 211 full-time employees who focus on business customers with substantial international traffic, including multinational businesses and international governmental organizations. Direct sales personnel are compensated with a base salary plus commissions. We currently have sales offices in Boston (vicinity), McLean, Puerto Rico, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, London, Frankfurt, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sy