ICOA Closes Sixth Broadband Wireless Acquisition With National RV Resort and Campground Wi-Fi Provider LinkSpot
July 14 2005 - 10:27AM
PR Newswire (US)
ICOA Closes Sixth Broadband Wireless Acquisition With National RV
Resort and Campground Wi-Fi Provider LinkSpot WARWICK, R.I., July
14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- IOCA, Inc. (OTC:ICOA) (BULLETIN BOARD:
ICOA) , a national provider of broadband Internet networks and
managed services in high-traffic public locations, announced today
it has acquired LinkSpot Networks, a privately held national
provider of broadband wireless services to RV resorts and
campgrounds. Former LinkSpot shareholders, including Meritage
Private Equity Funds, a Denver-based communications-focused private
equity partnership with $475 million in capital under management,
will become ICOA shareholders. LinkSpot Networks is ICOA's sixth
acquisition since the company entered the broadband wireless market
in late 2003. Previous acquisitions were QGo, Airport Network
Solutions, iDockUSA, AuthDirect and Wise Technologies. Based in
Reston, Va., LinkSpot Networks currently operates broadband
wireless services under long-term contracts in 26 states for 80
high-traffic RV resort and campground locations serving more than
20,000 campsites. The addressable RV resort/campground market is
estimated to be more than 14,000 locations with more than 2 million
campsites. Alan Kobran, formerly CEO of LinkSpot, joins the company
as vice president of outdoor hospitality and recreation to focus on
consolidating and expanding the full suite of ICOA's
outdoor/recreational-focused business units. Rick Schiffmann,
ICOA's CEO, said, "This acquisition continues our consolidation
strategy. LinkSpot's national network, experienced team and
promising market with significant growth opportunity is a strong
complement to our growing base in marinas, travel plazas and other
high-traffic public locations along the travel ribbon. We look
forward to having Alan expand our market share across our entire
outdoor/recreational businesses with the same focus with which he
has grown LinkSpot." Kobran said, "I can speak for the LinkSpot
board, investors and employees when I say that we view ICOA as a
strong platform for growth, and we are delighted to become a part
of this exciting company. ICOA has built a vertically integrated
foundation, national infrastructure and highly complementary asset
portfolio. I look forward to working with the ICOA management team,
pioneers and veterans of the industry to accelerate ICOA's emerging
national leadership." About ICOA, Inc. ICOA, Inc. is a national
provider of neutral-host wireless and wired broadband Internet
networks in high-traffic public locations. ICOA provides design,
installation, operations, maintenance and management of neutral,
common-use 802.11x standard WLAN Wi-Fi hot spot and hot zone
infrastructure throughout airport facilities, quick-service
restaurants, universities, travel plazas, RV/campgrounds and
marinas, and hospitality and hot zone locations. ICOA owns or
operates over 1,200 broadband access installations in high- traffic
locations across 45 states. For additional information, visit
http://www.icoacorp.com/ . An investment profile about ICOA may be
found at http://www.hawkassociates.com/icoa/profile.htm . For more
information, contact ICOA VP of Corporate Development John Balbach
at (401) 352-2368, email: . For investor relations, contact Frank
Hawkins or Julie Marshall, Hawk Associates, (305) 451-1888, e-mail:
. An online investor kit containing ICOA press releases, SEC
filings, current Level II price quotes, interactive Java stock
charts and other useful information for investors can be found at
http://www.hawkassociates.com/ and http://www.hawkmicrocaps.com/ .
The foregoing contains "forward-looking statements," which are
based on management's beliefs, as well as on a number of
assumptions concerning future events and information currently
available to management. Readers are cautioned not to put undue
reliance on such forward-looking statements, which are not a
guarantee of performance and are subject to a number of
uncertainties and other factors, many of which are outside ICOA's
control, that could cause actual results to differ materially from
such statements. For a more detailed description of the factors
that could cause such a difference, please see ICOA's filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. ICOA disclaims any
intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise. This information is presented solely to provide
additional information to further understand the results of ICOA.
DATASOURCE: ICOA, Inc. CONTACT: John Balbach, VP of Corporate
Development, ICOA, +1-401-352-2368, or ; or Frank Hawkins or Julie
Marshall, both of Hawk Associates, +1-305-451-1888, or , for ICOA
Web site: http://www.icoacorp.com/
http://www.hawkassociates.com/icoa/profile.htm
http://www.hawkassociates.com/ http://www.hawkmicrocaps.com/
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