WARWICK, R.I., Oct. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ICOA, Inc. (OTC:ICOA) (BULLETIN BOARD: ICOA) , a national provider of wireless broadband Internet networks and managed services in high-traffic public locations, announced today it has reached agreements with two institutional investors to retire short-term debt through conversions to common stock. The conversions settled $1,255,424 in short-term debt and accrued interest. The settlements reduce the company's interest expense by approximately $100,000 per annum and further strengthen the company's balance sheet. In an agreement with Seaport Capital Partners, LLC, approximately $880,000 in the form of loans and accrued interest to the company over the period from March 2003 to December 2004 was retired and approximately 54 million shares were issued to Seaport Capital Partners. This settlement represents a reduction of approximately 27% in the number of shares into which these loans and the accrued interest would have converted based on the stock prices at the time the loans were initiated. Subject to an effective registration statement, no more than 15 million shares would be available for sale in the open market during the first twelve months. Second, Seacoast Funding, Inc. acquired from ICOA's creditor Schlumberger Omnes, Inc. an outstanding note of $375,000. Under terms of the agreement with Seacoast, ICOA acquired the note from Seacoast Funding, Inc. In retiring the obligation from its books, ICOA issued to Seacoast Funding, Inc. approximately 7 million shares of common stock at a strike price of $0.052 per share. Under the terms of the agreement, Seacoast Funding, Inc may not make its shares available in the open market for twelve months. Steven Tavares, Managing Member of Seaport Capital, LLC. said, "This transaction is a vote of full confidence in ICOA, the management team and the strong track record of performance we have seen over the last 20 months. We look forward to joining the ranks of ICOA's long-term shareholders." Rick Schiffmann, CEO of ICOA, said, "We thank institutional investors Seaport Capital Partners, LLC and Seacoast Funding, Inc. for their long- standing and consistent support during ICOA's re-start phase and are pleased to welcome them to our growing base of long-term institutional shareholders. This debt retirement is another significant step forward in the strengthening of our balance sheet as ICOA moves towards profitability." The transactions are more fully described in an 8-K filed today with the SEC. 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, marinas, hospitality and hot zone locations. ICOA owns or operates over 1,300 broadband access installations in high-traffic locations across 45 states. For additional information, visit http://www.icoacorp.com/. For more information, contact ICOA Vice President of Corporate Development John Balbach at (401) 352-2368 or email . 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, Vice President of Corporate Development of ICOA, Inc., +1-401-352-2368, Web site: http://www.icoacorp.com/

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