DESOTO, Texas, March 10, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- eTelcharge.com, Inc. (Pink Sheets:ETLC) (www.eTelcharge.com), a financial diversified merchant service company, today announced the details of the contract signed with the City of DeSoto, a suburb of Dallas with a population of more than 42,000 people. This merchant service agreement provides for a variety of payment options unique to eTelcharge, which is based in DeSoto, Texas. "We are excited about the expanded billing possibilities eTelcharge provides for our citizens, as we are always interested in providing convenience and ease of transactions for our fellow citizens. As we have launched our new campaign striving for excellence, eTelcharge was a natural choice as they provide so many advantages and exclusives for all our various departments from city utilities, parks and recreation, court systems and other services provided by the city. And with $16.5 million in water utility billings annually, we seek to provide as many payment options as possible," stated chief financial officer of DeSoto, Camelia Browder; "We are encouraged especially by the unique online payment applications provided by eTelcharge.com and their commitment to the city." The terms of the agreement are outlined in several phases and began in June with the processing of all merchant services for offline credit card payments. This first phase included all over-the-counter credit card transactions. "We entered the second phase early after five months," said eTelcharge.com President and CEO, Carl O. Sherman, which he states, "added the addition of all online credit card transactions. Furthermore, as we continue to move forward with implementation of all payment options our management team will maintain monthly meetings with the city to insure a partnership for success for years to come." The second phase is scheduled to occur for three to six months before the start of the next phase. The third phase, which is scheduled to begin in May appears to be slated to start earlier during the month of April. This phase will offer the option to pay with an online check. The fourth phase will include the launch of the exclusive option of allowing ten pre-registered citizens with the ability to consolidate their water bill to their phone bill. "We anticipate this option will provide great interest and acceptance from citizens who are concerned about identity theft, especially for water bills that are no more than $20.00," stated Mr. Sherman, "as these are defined as micro payments, which consumers have a difficult time justifying entering their personal credit card information online to complete. In an industry of thin margins, we estimate that over the next 12 months, eTelcharge will process approximately $160,000.00 of credit card payments and $40,000.00 of other payments (including on line check payments and charges to phone bills) on average per month, resulting in average recurring revenue to the Company of approximately $2,000 per month."
About eTelcharge.com
eTelcharge.com (ETLC) offers the traditional credit card merchant services, checks and other existing financial infrastructure offered by banks, as well as the proprietary new online currency that provides online shoppers the exclusive choice to charge items to their telephone bill. Designed to reduce the risk of identity fraud and identity theft by providing an Internet credit option for online shoppers to charge items sold over the Internet. This payment option is a perfect match for the 70 million Americans who do not own a credit card. eTelcharge.com is currently the only company with the ability to charge a category of products to the home phone bill. Clearly, past electronic commerce solutions have not employed effective security and privacy techniques that adequately address consumer concerns about privacy and security on the Internet today. The release of the latest version of the proprietary phone billing option is scheduled to be launched early 2005. For more information, go to http://www.eTelcharge.com.com.
This news release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The statements involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause eTelcharge.com, Inc. and actual results or outcomes to be materially different from those anticipated and discussed herein. These include its historical lack of profitability, the need for additional capital, end-use customers' acceptance of new products and actual demand, which may differ significantly from expectance of new products and actual demand, which may differ significantly from expectations, the need for eTelcharge.com, Inc. to manage its growth, and other risks associated.