Esprit Telecom Selected for Exclusive National Access Code in France
Company Joins Elite Group of Operators That Can Offer French
Customers Network Access Using a Unique Single Digit Dialling Code
PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 11, 1998-- (Nasdaq: ESPRY; Easdaq:ESPR)
Esprit Telecom, one of Europe's leading independent
telecommunications companies, has announced that its application
for a single digit ''carrier pre-selection'' code in France has
been accepted by ART, the French telecommuniations regulator.
The much sought after code - known in France as an ''E digit'' -
is one of the final two such numbers to be allocated by ART
following the conclusion of a highly competitive application
process. Esprit Telecom now joins a select group of six
telecommunications companies entitled to compete on an equal
basis with France Telecom [NYSE:FTE - news], which must also
use a single digit code, across the country.
''The French market, which we estimate at FFr 500 billion, is a
crucial part of our pan-European network and service expansion
strategy. The assignment of this elite code gives us a head start
on most of our French competitors and allows us to advance our
plans for offering better value telecommunications services to
French businesses and, for the first time, French consumers.
We have already begun extending our pan-European digital backbone
network through key French cities,'' said David L. Oertle, chief
executive of Esprit Telecom Group plc.
The single digit code, which will be either ''4'' or ''6'', will
be allocated at a formal ''lottery'' ceremony at ART's Paris
headquarters on Friday, 13 February at 5:30pm.
Formal award of the code will come after Esprit Telecom's national
license application is approved by the Ministry of Economy, Finance,
and Industry.
Esprit Telecom France SA, one of the first independent telephone
operators to compete in France, was established in September 1994
and has its headquarters in La Defense, Paris. Currently, Esprit
Telecom's pan-European network has French points of presence in
Paris, Lille, Strasbourg, and Lyon and offers telecommunications
services to businesses in L'Ile-de-France, le Nord-Pas de Calais,
l'Alsace-Lorraine, and Rhone-Alpes. The company plans to extend
its network throughout France over the next eighteen months.
In December 1997, Esprit Telecom raised $300 million in a dual
currency senior note offering in Europe and the United States and
announced plans to significantly expand its digital fibre optic
network across Europe. The first phase in this expansion, a high
capacity, fully digital fibre optic link between London and Paris,
began in November 1997. The cross-Channel portion of the link
passes through the Channel Tunnel, which is operated by Eurotunnel.
The company is currently deploying a pan-European SDH ring
connecting the UK, France, The Netherlands, and Belgium.
France sits at the centre of this network and is a key hub
for onward connection to Germany, Spain, and the Benelux countries.
Esprit Telecom Group plc, a NASDAQ and EASDAQ quoted company,
trading under the symbols ''ESPRY'' and ''ESPR'' respectively,
is one of the largest independent European telecommunications
service providers. Its network extends to 19 major cities in the
United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, France, Germany,
Belgium, Italy and Ireland. Esprit Telecom provides high
quality, low cost, and customised international and national
long distance telecommunications services to large and medium
sized businesses. As a market leader in providing international
telecommunications services, Esprit Telecom counts leading
financial institutions, hotels travel service organisations,
transport companies, and government organisations amongst its
many customers. |
