Intera, NetNearU Do WiFiIntera, NetNearU Do WiFi

PLEASANTON, Calif. and COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Intera Communications Corp. and NetNearU Corp. today announced a comprehensive agreement for Intera to target Wi-Fi hotspots at thousands of existing pay phone locations throughout the United States within the next 12 months. Intera’s sister company, NSC, owns or manages over 38,000 pay phones. Intera has existing relationships with Private Pay Phone Owners (PPOs) that control another 200,000 pay phones and is converting locations to hotspots using the NetNearU wireless hotspot solution with TRACKOSTM which provides the end user authentication, billing, and overall system management.

“Leveraging the valuable real estate occupied by pay phones greatly lowers one of the most significant barriers to developing hotspots, finding suitable locations,” said Larry James, chairman and CEO of NetNearU Corp. “The Wi-Fi TRACKOS, ‘just add Internet’ solution, is the preferred Operations Support System (OSS) for quick deployment of hotspots.”

The scalability of the carrier-grade NetNearU solution is a primary reason Intera chose to partner with NetNearU. The TRACKOS solution can easily scale to hundreds of thousands of units. Network operators who order a NetNearU wireless hotspot solution can quickly and easily generate revenue by simply adding a broadband Internet connection. The turnkey features of this solution include end-user authentication, equipment monitoring, revenue reporting, credit card billing and customer support.

“ Converting existing pay phone locations to hotspots is essential to profitable, long-term growth. We have found the NetNearU wireless solution easy to integrate, deploy, and manage, making deploying and owning a Wi-Fi network worry-free,” said George Huff, CEO and President of Intera Communications Group, Inc.

Intera’s offering to the Private Payphone Operator (PPO) is a turnkey solution that takes care of all the details involved with converting pay phone locations into wireless hotspots. The conversion process is simple; all a PPO has to do is contact Intera. Intera will mentor the PPO on choice of the best sites, supply the equipment, order the DSL if necessary, and help design the Splash Pages. Pay phone owners have already discovered that working with Intera is a very satisfying experience.

The software used to manage the NetNearU hotspot network is currently managing thousands of wired and wireless locations around the world. NetNearU’s list of blue-chip clients includes: TCG Public Communications Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Corporation; Verizon Communications Inc.; Cable & Wireless; Sprint Pay Phone Services Corporation; and British Petroleum Oil UK Limited.