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Technology Stocks : Esprit Telecom Group plc ADR - ESPRY -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kevin C. who wrote (23)	7/8/1998 8:37:00 PM
From: MangoBoy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 30

[Esprit Telecom Becomes First Independent Telecommunications Company in Belgium to Receive National Network Operator Licence] LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 9, 1998--Esprit Telecom, one of Europe's leading independent telecommunications companies today announced that it has been granted a national public network operator (PTO) licence in Belgium -- the first to be awarded to an independent telecommunications company in the BF168 billion ($4.5 billion) Belgian telecommunications market. The PTO licence enables Esprit Telecom to operate its own digital broadband telecommunications network across Belgium. Esprit Telecom acquired the raw fibre optic assets to build this network from Belgian railway operator Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen BV (NMBS) in a first of its kind deal announced in February 1998. "We are continuing with the rapid development of our Belgian network and business, demonstrating our commitment to maintaining a leadership position in this critically important European market. This infrastructure licence is an important milestone in the development of the second 'ring' of our pan-European fibre network, linking major cities in the UK, France, The Netherlands and Belgium," said David L. Oertle, chief executive officer at Esprit Telecom. The new PTO licence entitles Esprit Telecom to the lowest possible network interconnection rates with Belgacom, the former monopoly in Belgium. The PTO licence is in addition to Esprit Telecom's existing national voice telephony licence, awarded in February 1998. About Esprit Telecom 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. The company has sales offices in 26 major cities in the United Kingdom, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain, France, Belgium, and Italy and a state of the art digital fibre optic telecommunications network stretching across eight European countries. The Esprit Telecom Network The Esprit Telecom European network runs at an initial speed of 2.5 Gbits/second (STM-16) and uses state of the art SDH (also known as "Sonet") transmission equipment and technology. SDH technology allows for the construction of "self-healing" networks, known as such because traffic typically has multiple paths to any destination. Initially, the network has the capacity to carry up to 90 billion minutes of annual voice traffic. Using wave division multiplexing (WDM) technology, the capacity of the Esprit Telecom network can be increased by up to forty times. The first network ring, a 1275 route kilometre fibre loop between London and Paris, went "live" in April 1998. Notes to Editors: 1. The current PTO licence is a provisional licence. This will be superceded by a "definitive" national public network operator licence when the applicable telecommunications legislation is adopted by the Belgian government. This is expected in autumn 1998. 2. Esprit Telecom's interconnection agreement with Belgacom will be the first such agreement based on Belgacom's first reference interconnection offer ("BRIO 1") awarded to an independent operator. Two non-independent companies obtained similar licences on 1/1/98. The BRIO 1 interconnect entitles Esprit Telecom to terminate and originate calls on the ubiquitous Belgacom public network on the basis of the lowest available tariffs. BRIO 1 interconnection will provide Esprit Telecom with termination rates that are about 16% less than BRIO 2 rates on average. 3. In February, Esprit Telecom was granted a provisional national voice operator licence. This entitled Esprit Telecom to Belgacom's second reference interconnection offer (BRIO 2). Esprit Telecom was the first independent telecommunications company in Belgium with BRIO 2 status. Further information about Esprit Telecom is also available on the Internet at: esprittele.com.