[April 22, 1999]

Crys-Tel Telecommunications, Nokia Announce International IP Telephony Interconnection Agreements

Crys-Tel Telecommunications.com, Inc., a Vancouver based telecommunications carrier, and Nokia, a leading IP telephony solutions provider, announced recently interconnection agreements between Crys-Tel and two other internationally established carriers creating one of the world's largest IP telephony networks.

The agreement interconnects the Crys-Tel network with both TeleMatrix of Japan, and Abacus Telecom of Paris, France. The Nokia IP Telephony platform is the foundation for this network expansion, which will include more than 100 deployed points of presence, covering North America, Europe and Asia.

All three carriers will benefit immediately from the agreements by expanding coverage for their existing customers, and through attracting customers to new termination markets.

"Nokia's unique distributed architecture allows the formation of this alliance, resulting in expanded services and incremental revenues while enabling all three organizations to control our own networks," said Edward Yau, president of Crys-Tel Telecommunications.com, Inc.

"These interconnection agreements illustrate a maturing IP telephony market," said T. Kent Elliott, vice president and general manager, Nokia IP Telephony. "We expect that more IP telephony Service Providers will look to expand their International coverage through both direct deployments and through interconnection agreements such as this."

"TeleMatrix is an IP telephony pioneer, and we continue to expand our network internationally through direct deployments. These agreements allow us to aggressively enter new calling areas, and generate new revenues while also building relationships to develop value-added services that can be offered network-wide," said David Kleiman, vice president, North American Operations, TeleMatrix.

"Unlike a typical IP telephony consortium, this relationship not only enables us to rapidly expand our network but it also allows us to pursue our own independent business plans," said Didier Leclerc, president, Abacus Telecom.

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