Pacific Gateway Exchange has received final approval from Japanese Ministry to roll out their operations in Japan !
PGEX will also begin operating as an ISP in Japan through
its PGExpress division.
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Second US Carrier to Obtain Final Telecommunications Type 1
Facility Based Approval
Retail Service Offerings to Begin Latter Part of 1999
Customer Access Codes Marketed under "0084 and 0085"
Initially Targeting Ethnic Communities in Japan
Japanese Internet Co-Location and Access Services Offered Through PGExpress
BURLINGAME, Calif., May 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Pacific Gateway Exchange, Inc. (Nasdaq: PGEX) today announced that it is the second US carrier to obtain the final approvals from the Japanese Ministry under its telecommunications Type 1 license. These approvals allow the Company to operate as an international telecommunications facility based carrier in Japan and to secure operating and interconnect arrangements with Japanese carriers. As a result, the Company, a global facility based carrier, will begin retail marketing to customers in one of the largest global markets and major gateways to Asia.
In addition, Pacific Gateway has obtained customer access codes and will market under "0084 and 0085". The Company expects to begin offering retail services later in 1999 initially targeting the ethnic communities, and then later the mainstream commercial and residential markets.
These approvals allow Pacific Gateway to own and operate its own international facilities in Japan. Along with the Company's $86 million investment in the Japan-US Cable Network, this license allows the Company to build the network to the city centers in Japan. "Pacific Gateway will provide cost effective, high quality city center routes from Tokyo and Osaka to San Francisco, Washington DC, London, and Frankfurt," said Mr. Howard A. Neckowitz, President and CEO of Pacific Gateway.
Through PGExpress, the Company's recently announced Internet subsidiary the Company will provide co-location and access services to the Japanese Internet market. The Company expects to utilize its network and global points of presence to provide high performance Internet connectivity, co-location, and remote content solutions in the Japanese market.
"The progress that we have made in the licensing procedures in Japan is impressive. We are positioned to enter the high margin retail market and to provide city center to city center transmission and Internet facilities," said Mr. Neckowitz. "Complementing our wholesale operations in Japan, we will initially target the large Japanese based Filipino and Chinese communities leveraging our success in ethnic retail marketing in the US. In addition, the expansion to offer Internet services will transform the Company beyond its base of telecommunication services into a world class provider of data and multimedia services in the exponentially expanding Internet industry."
About Pacific Gateway: (Nasdaq: PGEX)
Pacific Gateway will provide Internet and high bandwidth services to the global market. It is expanding its network and global points of presence to provide connectivity and co-location to the exploding Internet services market. In addition, the Company is a diversified facilities-based international telecommunications carrier serving a wide array of domestic and international telecommunications service providers and retail customers. The Company and its offshore subsidiaries are a party to 44 operating agreements providing landing rights in 28 countries and have ownership interests in 19 digital undersea fiber optic cable systems providing for the exchange of telecommunications traffic with foreign carriers. The Company recently announced its commitment to invest over $150 million in the Japan-US and TAT-14 Cable Networks, positioning the Company as a low cost provider of services for the future. In addition, Pacific Gateway has a US network spanning twelve of the major metropolitan cities in the US. Pacific Gateway presently operates switching and international gateway facilities in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, the United Kingdom, Russia, New Zealand, Japan, Australia, and Germany and is developing additional offshore markets. Pacific Gateway information is available at www.pgexch.com.
Application of the Safe Harbor of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: this press release contains statements that are not historical facts and may be considered "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, such as statements regarding: the expected development of high bandwidth and Internet operations; the expected service date of the Company's service offerings in Japan; the construction of new cable facilities; and expansion into new markets. Actual results might differ materially from those projected by those statements due to numerous factors, including: increased competition; price declines; economic, legal, business and political developments in the US and Japan; unforeseeable developments relating to the Company's rapid growth; the Company's ability to hire qualified sales, technical, and support people; regulatory developments in the U.S. and in foreign countries; delays in the construction of cable facilities; the Company's success in developing new business programs; and start-up costs and other uncertainties related to the commencement of new Internet and bandwidth operations.
SOURCE Pacific Gateway Exchange, Inc.
CO: Pacific Gateway Exchange, Inc.
ST: California, Japan
IN: CPR MLM TLS
SU: PDT
05/03/99 08:01 EDT prnewswire.com
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