Thursday, August 21, 2008

Stock buyback by iBasis brings home 3.9M shares

International voice over Internet protocol wholesaler iBasis Inc. has completed a stock buyback program valued at $15 million.

The repurchase, which was approved by the board of directors in April, brought in 3.9 million shares at an average price of $3.84.

Burlington-based IBasis (Nasdaq: IBAS) now has 71.2 common shares issued and outstanding, according to a company statement.

Founded in 1996, iBasis  is a wholesale carrier of international long distance telephone calls and a provider of retail prepaid calling services and enhanced services for mobile operators. The company’s customers include KPN, KPN Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, China Mobile, China Unicom, Skype, Telefonica, and Yahoo.

Last fall, iBasis acquired Denmark-based KPN Global Carrier Services through a merger with Royal KPN, effectively outsourcing KPN’s international voice business to iBasis and creating one of the three largest carriers of international voice traffic in the world.

Publicly traded since 1999, iBasis employs more than 390 people. The company reported $939 million in revenue in 2007, with $16.1 million in net income.