Wireless Service Provider, USA 1 Rate, to Convert from Hard Cards to Electronic Top Up of Prepaid Wireless Airtime with Q Comms Point-of-Sale Activation Terminals Prepaid wireless service provider leverages distribution technology to expand product line, distribution and sales

(Orem, UT) -- December 19, 2003 -- Q Comm International, Inc. (Amex: QMM; QMM.WS), a provider of prepaid transaction processing and electronic point-of-sale (POS) distribution solutions, today announced that Y202, Inc. doing business as USA 1 Rate, will begin converting from hard cards to a electronic top up of prepaid wireless airtime using Q Comms Qxpress 200 point-of-sale activation (POSA) terminals and transaction processing service. USA 1 Rate is a prepaid wireless service provider based in Farmington Hill, Michigan that was formed by its chief executive officer, Sam Konja, in 2000. The company private-labels and resells the wireless service products of Verizon Wireless and AT&T Wireless. USA 1 Rate reports that it has approximately 35,000 customers that are served through more than 600 third-party retailers, including wireless resellers, convenience stores and gas stations, located throughout 13 Midwestern states. The company sells and distributes its products through a staff of 7 sales representatives and about 40 distributors. The company says that the Wall Street Journal plans to report in January that USA 1 Rate is one of the fastest-growing prepaid wireless providers in the United States. The company is now planning to expand to the West Coast.

Orem, UT (PRWEB) December 19 2003---Q Comm International, Inc. (Amex: QMM; QMM.WS), a provider of prepaid transaction processing and electronic point-of-sale (POS) distribution solutions, today announced that Y202, Inc. doing business as USA 1 Rate, will begin converting from hard cards to a electronic top up of prepaid wireless airtime using Q Comms Qxpress 200 point-of-sale activation (POSA) terminals and transaction processing service. USA 1 Rate is a prepaid wireless service provider based in Farmington Hill, Michigan that was formed by its chief executive officer, Sam Konja, in 2000. The company private-labels and resells the wireless service products of Verizon Wireless and AT&T Wireless. USA 1 Rate reports that it has approximately 35,000 customers that are served through more than 600 third-party retailers, including wireless resellers, convenience stores and gas stations, located throughout 13 Midwestern states. The company sells and distributes its products through a staff of 7 sales representatives and about 40 distributors. The company says that the Wall Street Journal plans to report in January that USA 1 Rate is one of the fastest-growing prepaid wireless providers in the United States. The company is now planning to expand to the West Coast.

USA 1 Rate chief financial officer, Rocky Francis, says that his goal is to have most, if not all of the companys third-party retailers switch from prepaid hard cards, also known as scratch cards and vouchers, to Qxpress terminals. Francis hopes to begin deploying Qxpress POSA terminals in the latter part of this month.

With the Q Comm electronic distribution system, USA 1 Rate will save the costs of printing, managing physical inventory, and shipping or delivering hard cards that contain the service-activating PINs. Rather than distributing prepaid wireless airtime PINs with hard cards, Q Comms transaction processing center will securely route a typical days worth of USA 1 Rate airtime PINs to Qxpress terminals in participating retail locations. The PIN inventory will remain securely in the terminals memory until the time of sale. When a consumer requests an airtime top up (purchase), the clerk will access the terminal through a personalized passcode. After the clerk selects the product from a simple, intuitive menu, the terminal prints the PIN, access phone number, usage instructions and terms and conditions on the back of a credit-card sized, durable, thermal-coated card which is exchanged for payment. At the end of each day, or when a predefined low threshold of inventory is reached, the terminal automatically dials via a standard phone line into Q Comms transaction processing center to report sales and download replacement PINs. Q Comm refers to this version of electronic PIN delivery as an offline transaction because no phone line connection is needed at the actual time of sale. Q Comm also supports real-time, online, PINless transactions where the terminal dials out at the time of each sale and requests a credit directly to the subscribers account, with no PIN being required. However, Q Comm says that, like USA 1 Rate, most of its carrier and retail clients prefer the offline approach because of improved product delivery speed.

We expect strong adoption from our retailers," says Francis. The ones weve spoken with so far are anxious to make the switch because of the problems it will solve. Theyre most interested in eliminating prepayments for inventory. Under the hard-card scenario, our retailers must pay us c.o.d., which is often a financial strain for them. The typical hard-card order per store often amounts to several thousand dollars each month. The Qxpress security, automated clearing house and other features allow us to comfortably change our terms to consignment. Cash flow will immediately improve for retailers and theyll be able to redirect their savings to other areas of their business. We are more than happy to change to consignment terms for Qxpress users as we wont have the time, expense, and worry of collecting money anymore. Qxpress will also eliminate most retail theft and stock outages. Just recently our Chicago distributor ran out of hard cards. Our Chicago stores were without airtime product for two days before we could get inventory back into the network, which resulted in customer frustration and significant lost sales. We wont have these problems once we switch to electronic distribution.

From our standpoint as a wireless service provider, we are also anxious to make the switch," continues Francis. By eliminating the requirement to pay us in advance, we have eliminated the number one objection that we hear from retail stores when trying to get them to sell our product. Q Comms services will help us increase our distribution and sales dramatically. Plus, we are greatly expanding our product portfolio with Q Comms help. Q Comm maintains a product library of other prepaid wireless carriers in addition to prepaid long distance, dial tone, Internet, MasterCard and other prepaid services that they will include on the terminal at our option. Well also cut various costs. If we are able to entirely switch to electronic distribution, well completely eliminate the time, effort and costs of printing and distributing hard cards."

Operationally, USA 1 Rate says it will be able to provide better service to its retailers. Under the hard-card format, the company reports that each sales representative could only visit about 5 stores per day. But now because the sales reps dont have to collect money, count hard cards and the like, theyll be able to dramatically cut their visit time. With the increased efficiency, USA 1 Rate hopes that their field staff can increase visits at each store from once every two weeks to once every week to provide better service and more attention to sales maximizing activities centering on point-of-sale signage and product positioning within the store.

Francis reports that his 600 stores each average greater than $1,000 per month in sales of USA 1 Rate prepaid wireless airtime, with some stores selling as high as $20,000 per month. He says that USA 1 Rate is popular among the credit-challenged segment as it is differentiated from most other prepaid wireless plans in that it offers some of the lowest airtime denominations in the industry which start at $10 and go up to $50. Despite targeting the credit challenged and offering the lower denominations, Francis says that their average revenue per user (ARPU) is about $20 per month, not far off prepaid industry standards.

Terry Kramer, interim president of Q Comm International, Inc. adds that, Having worked in senior management positions with PacTel and Vodafone/AirTouch, I know the significance of the distribution solutions we offer to wireless carriers and other service providers. By making the switch from hard cards to electronic distribution, USA 1 Rate and other wireless providers will be able to increase efficiency, sales and profitability by virtually eliminating hard-card printing, handling and shipping costs, theft, and stock outages while lowering distribution barriers, expanding product offerings and building market intelligence via detailed reporting. Being selected by USA 1 Rate is further validation that we offer premier solutions that meet the specific needs of wireless service providers. We are pleased to be working with USA 1 Rate and look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship."

ABOUT Q COMM INTERNATIONAL:    

Established in 1992, Q Comm International provides proprietary prepaid transaction processing and information management systems that facilitate electronic recharge or distribution of prepaid products from service providers or their distributors to retail points of sale. Q Comms solutions replace traditional hard cards (also known as scratch cards or vouchers) that are costly to distribute, and provide more comprehensive reporting and inventory management among other benefits. In concert with its proprietary data center platform, Q Comms point-of-sale terminal, Qxpress 200, is currently used by wireless carriers or mobile operators, telecom distributors, and various retailers to sell a wide range of prepaid products and services including prepaid wireless or prepaid mobile, prepaid phone cards, prepaid dial tone and prepaid bank cards, such as prepaid MasterCard. Visit www.qcomm.com for more information.

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This press release contains forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated due to a number of factors, including shortages of raw materials, the companys financial condition and cash flow and general economic conditions. The companys plans and objectives are based on assumptions involving judgments with respect to future economic, competitive, regulatory and market conditions and future business decisions, all of which are difficult or impossible to predict accurately and many of which are beyond the companys control. Therefore, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events, or otherwise.

Contacts:

Jeff Salzwedel

Salzwedel Financial Communications

+1 (503) 638-7777

Scott Liolios

Liolios Group, Inc.

+1 (949) 574-3860

Paul Hickey

Q Comm International, Inc.

+1 (801) 226-4222, ext. 3301