Laos Officially Launches the 3G Mobile Network

Laos Officially Launches Its 3G Mobile Network

October 17th, 2008, Laos Telecom, major telco of the People Republic of Laos declared to operates its third-generation (3G) mobile network. At the first initiation, the services will be provided only within its capital city, Vientiane after approximately one month on hold. The Opening ceremony of the 3G officially held at Don Chan Palace Hotel by Lieutenant-General Douangchai Phichit, Deputy Prime Minister and Min. of National Defense, Mr. Thansamay Kommasith, Director General of Lao Telecom Director to the other government officials and public sectors.

In order to fulfil the demand of the customers for cellular services, the People Republic of Laos has initiated the plan for 3G at first to be able to use the network within August 2008, then it has been deferred to completely complied in September this year. This services enable the high-speed intenet access and video calls via cellular phone.

To open this 3G service, the People Republic of Laos is the first among 10 Asian nation that brings the 3G cellular network to use within the country.

T-Mobile's Answer to Differentiate Brand

T-Mobile USA Inc.'s G1 cellphone, which goes on sale Wednesday, is the company's first product launch under its new marketing chief, Denny Marie Post. It is also the first to be powered by Google's operating system, Android. Ms. Post joined the wireless carrier, a division of Deutsche Telekom AG with 31.5 million customers, in June after serving as the senior vice president of global food and beverage at Starbucks Corp.

Denny Marie Post

In an interview, Ms. Post, 51 years old, talked about the G1 launch, the role Google Inc. plays and how the device will stand out. Excerpts:

WSJ: What's the central message with the G1? How will you market it?

Ms. Post: The premise [is] "curiosity is everywhere." The reason that we settled on or arrived at that notion is that it's based on a human truth, that in any given moment you have questions that you want to be able to answer.

What you'll see this week is initially a launch spot that sets that premise up, and then over the next few weeks, spots that play out and address how those questions are answered. We're relying mostly on television. We also have a pretty strong digital presence. And then we'll continue with launch events at store level. We're putting more effort behind this at store level.

WSJ: What will Google's role be, especially as a company that avoids traditional advertising?

Ms. Post: They are a nontraditional marketer. Talk about somebody that knows the power of a brand, or has built it with virtually no [marketing]—and that is very Starbuck-ian, by the way. Google is more like Starbucks in that sense, they don't have to spend a lot money on marketing.

They, obviously, have a strong brand that they want to make sure is represented appropriately, so most of the conversation has been around brand representation, but the choices with regard to the creative, the media and all of the go-to-market is ours.

WSJ: Are they picking up part of the ad spending?

Ms. Post: They have supported the co-development of the device, and that's where the majority of their dollars have gone ... But the TV buy is ours.

WSJ: There are several other smart phones coming to market, like the Storm. How do you see the G1 standing out?

Ms. Post: In fact, the G1 is one of three that we're launching this quarter, because we have the Pearl Flip coming and we also have the Behold from Samsung. I think customers come to this in different ways. The biggest one with the G1 is, again, [it is] the first to offer Android, and the promise of openness.

Secondly, the keyboard relative to the touch screen, I think, makes a big difference. We've found that people are really drawn to that, so the Qwerty keyboard is critical.

The other thing is our pricing. The device and the data plan make this a very accessible, very powerful, what we call almost streetwise device that really hits the masses.

WSJ: You knew it was just a matter of time before I asked about the iPhone.

Ms. Post: The what? I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with that.

WSJ: Perhaps you've heard of it. It manages to continue generating a lot of buzz. Do you expect something similar to happen with the G1?

Ms. Post: Oh yeah. We actually have played out so many scenarios. More than the device, it's opening the door to the open platform. And I think that's where the news is going to come from.

WSJ: Any tricks from Apple's or AT&T's playbook that you've been able to look at or consider?

Ms. Post: The worst thing you can try to do is look like others. I think we've taken our own path here, very consistent with our brand. T-Mobile is a brand that has traditionally kind of pushed the limits, been a little more innovative, a little more daring and been willing to go to market slightly differently.

WSJ: What lessons from Starbucks did you bring to T-Mobile?

Ms. Post: Being willing to take risks, to stay fresh, to never rest on what you've been and always be looking for the next level. I also think that I take more lessons, actually, from Burger King than Starbucks, in the sense that at Burger King we were clearly a challenger brand. And rather than just trying to do what the larger player did three weeks behind them, we figured out pretty rapidly that we needed to differentiate our brand.

Write to Andrew LaVallee at andrew.lavallee@wsj.com

Picture Source: http://www.t-mobileg1.com/

True takes big step forward with international calling

SRISAMORN PHOOSUPHANUSORN

True International Communication Co, the international direct dialling (IDD) arm of True Corp, is gearing up to offer full commercial service for customers of True fixed-line, mobile and personal communication telephones (PCT).

The company expects to grab at least a 10% share next year of all IDD traffic, worth some 10 billion baht last year.

General manager Vasu Khuvasi said True International Communication expected to attract at least 80% of its existing one million customers who make overseas calls.

True has around two million fixed-line customers, True Move 12 million subscribers and PCT 300,000 users.

''We expect to earn one billion baht in IDD revenue next year. It is also expected to become a significant revenue stream in the future,'' he said.

Previously, Mr Vasu said that True earned IDD revenue in form of marketing commissions from CAT Telecom, at around 400 million baht per year.

True International is introducing a promotional IDD tariff rate of six baht a minute for calls made worldwide from 6 pm to 6 am until Oct 6.

To make overseas calls, users can dial the ''006'' prefix followed by the country code and telephone number. True Move customers can either press the prefix 006 or the ''+'' sign to reach the service.

True Move's two larger mobile rivals rivals also offer IDD services: Advanced Info Service with a 005 prefix and DTAC with 004. They compete with CAT Telecom's 001 and 009 prefixes and TOT Plc's 007 and 008 prefixes.

True International received an IDD licence from the National Telecommunications Commission last year. It spent almost 100 million baht on a network covering 230 countries and territories.

The company began a soft launch for True Move subscribers early this year and 30,000 are using the service.

''We are now introducing an official integrated service for the group's umbrella customers under our convergence lifestyle campaign,'' said Mr Vasu.

He acknowledged that competition in the local IDD market would intensify next year, thanks to more new players. He also said that differentiation was difficult because operators all used similar technology, but the premium would be on voice clarity, easy connections and no dropped calls.

Mr Vasu admitted that Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service was challenging the IDD market because it was cheaper. VoIP users pay only one baht to 1.50 baht a minute for calls to countries in Asia, Europe and United States.

However, True is focusing on corporate customers and businessmen who have concerns about voice clarity quality.

The company is planning to extend its international network's reach, after having direct links with carriers and operators in Japan, Hong Kong and Germany. It also plans to build a presence in Singapore or Europe soon after installing in Hong Kong.

Mr Vasu also said that IDD operators were in talks about setting up interconnection charges among each other in order to allow customers to make international calls through any telephone system.

Is the info highway turning into the M25?

Mick Hume, chairing the proceedings, kicked off last night’s spiked debate on the ‘internet crunch’ with an apt question: ‘Is the information superhighway turning into the M25?’ That is, is the internet now so clogged by audio and visual content and too-many-users that it’s becoming slow, congested and frustrating? The M25 analogy remained peculiarly prescient throughout the lively debate, which took place at the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors in London, as speakers and audience members touched on questions of expansion and furores over funding, with a dash of doom-mongering, too.

Rob Killick, CEO of cScape, was the first to speak. He announced, with confidence, that ‘fears over the internet’s decline are nothing new’; some predicted that it would collapse in the late 1990s, and later had to eat their words. In its short history, the internet has proved both robust and flexible, even as the number of users doubles year on year, and there is no reason to believe, said Killick, that the internet will slow down now or collapse as more people speak, listen to music or watch films over the web.

Killick overtly challenged the pessimism and populist Malthusianism of contemporary debate. He said that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and media companies were stoking up fears about an internet collapse as part of a special-pleading attempt to get some financial backing from government or the BBC (whose iPlayer is often blamed for slowing the internet down). We should have faith in the sturdiness of the internet, and also in the ingenuity of human innovation, said Killick. Instead of panicking about future strains on the internet – such as the increasing abundance of ‘heavy’ (large) content and the fact that more people will be accessing online services in China and the developing world – Killick said we should be optimistic about the new innovations of telecommunications companies (Telcos) and of projects carried out by the likes of the Central Organisation for Nuclear Research. ‘They have created a computer network 10,000 times faster than the current internet’, he pointed out.

David Crow, media and tech correspondent for London’s business freesheet City AM, spoke next. He started by showing a clip from the film Ocean’s 11, in which the main hustler and casino thief, played by George Clooney, points out that there is a law which forces casinos to hold enough cash to cover every chip in play on the casino floor – anywhere between $70million and $120million – even though it is extraordinarily unlikely that every chip will be a winner.

Crow argued that the casino’s approach (have enough money just in case) is the opposite of the approach taken by ISPs, who rely on the fact that we won’t all be using their services for the same thing at the same time to justify not expanding the networks very much. Arguing that this approach is a major cause of stagnation in the development of the internet infrastructure, Crow said: ‘I don’t think that the fact that our network is not facing an imminent collapse is a reason for ignoring that we need to upgrade it.’

His solution? We should be weaned off our ‘addiction to £10-a-month price plans’. Crow gave us two imaginary characters: Mabel and Pete. Mabel emails her son in Australia every now and then, while Pete uses the internet for hours everyday to send emails, watch films and to download ‘other image-based files’ (‘which I won’t describe in such polite company’, said Crow), and yet both Mabel and Pete pay the same rate for their internet access. Crow said the way forward was fairly to charge people for what they use, rather than having a catch-all monthly fee, which might increase funding and incentivise development of more infrastructure.

Christopher Marsden, lecturer in law and telecommunications at the University of Essex, split his speech into five parts.

The first – truth – referred to the need for ISPs to be more honest with their end-users on issues such as funding development. Secondly, said Marsden, we need to question the form and set-up of the internet if ISPs are to deliver advertising (where the real money is) and thus help fund the work they need to do. Third, we should get more serious about ‘net neutrality’, which is currently at risk. There should, said Marsden, be ‘equal access to the internet, [where the] broadband carriers should not be permitted to use their market power to discriminate against competing… content. Just as telephone companies are not permitted to tell consumers who they can call or what they can say.’

Fourth, there needs to be a collective European approach to the issues of laying new cable and to ISP regulation of the internet. And finally, said Marsden, the government and others should be ‘be careful what they wish for’: if we encourage ISPs to become preoccupied with regulating the internet, and with issues of ‘social responsibility’, their eye will be taken off the more pressing issue of developing the internet.

Andrew Orlowski, executive editor of the online magazine the Register, made a distinction between the internet and the web: the former being a mechanical group of networks working mostly behind the scenes to provide us with services. The latter being the holistic content that you are partaking in when you read things online.

Orlowski argued eloquently for a more real, grounded discussion about the future of the internet, one which recognises the importance of the ‘physics and economics’ of improving the infrastructure rather than retreating into the idealised, fantasy image of Web 2.0. Orlowski argued that the fascination with Web 2.0 and user-generated content was like ‘intelligent design for the left’: a fantasy version of the world which allows people to get self-validation online but which reveals little about the real workings of the internet or what needs to be done to improve it.

On the question of who should fund and lead the development of the internet, some audience members questioned the idea that ISPs should be primarily responsible; surely Telcos, and even mobile operators (who in the next few years need to install fibre optic connections for their mobiles anyway), should play a greater role? Christopher Marsden agreed that progressive steps have been taken by the mobile industry to install fibre, but Andrew Orlowski said fibre is not the panacea to all our problems. Japanese ISPs had discovered that P2P traffic conveyed using ‘dirty’, hard to manage protocols like Bittorrent soon saturated the fastest fibre networks. Voluntary copyright reform would help, he said.

One audience member suggested that the panel had been ‘sanguine about growth’, arguing that around 2.5 billion technologically enabled new citizens would be entering the market in the next few years, and that the internet – a fundamental part of market trade – should be subsidised by state intervention. David Crow challenged this idea; he said there is not a sufficient appetite for new taxation to ensure the growth of the internet. Rob Killick took a more confrontational tone: ‘Government would be inept.’ He said the market had ‘kind of worked’, in its usual half-useful, half-destructive fashion: so the telecom companies which, like dying warriors, laid the cables for the new internet have now gone out of business – but their cables remain, and remain useful for vast numbers of people. Better to trust an unwieldy market that accidentally gets things done, rather than a useless, vision-free state, suggested Killick.

The debate was lively, with the well-informed audience keeping the speakers on their toes. Rightly, the discussion focused in large part on the technical, practical issue of how to expand the internet and who should do it – not simply to keep at bay a mostly imaginary ‘internet collapse’, but also because it is good for all of us to expand this modern means of communication, media access and ideas-sharing.

Joel Cohen is an intern at spiked.

Cisco and unified I/O

Cisco's interest in data center networking has continued to grow, and a facet of its approach to data center networking involves "unified I/O," the idea that all the I/O connections going into or out of a server can be condensed into a single connection.

The larger vision is something Cisco calls "Data Center 3.0," and the company recently advanced many of its products toward that vision with software updates. The idea is to virtualize data-center resources - servers, storage and so forth - to make them more flexible and efficient.

Unified I/O is part of this vision. If everything has a single connection to a network cloud, it can access all the other resources in that cloud. The idea of having separate connections for separate I/O functions or separate networks goes away.

The unifying network connection, in Cisco's view, is 10 Gigabit Ethernet. It can carry multiprotocol traffic, it can carry Fibre Channel (using Fibre Channel over Ethernet technology) and it can do RDMA.

Cisco argues that new standards are making this transition easier. The PCI-Express server bus standard means that the I/O bottleneck at the bus level has been cleared away, according to Cisco. Servers can take full advantage of a 10 Gigabit Ethernet link.

Cisco further argues that the move toward multiple processors, processor cores and virtual machines existing on single servers will mean that there will be a higher demand for network traffic. In other words, that 10 Gigabit pipe will fill up.

The company notes that to converge traffic onto a single Ethernet connection, the Ethernet fabric has to become lossless for certain types of transmissions. So, Cisco describes a pause mechanism for Ethernet that doesn't halt all traffic - just a certain type. With different traffic types getting their own pause mechanisms, the traffic can coexist on the same link.

Alcatel-Lucent Helps Establish Public Internet Access Center in Malaysia

Alcatel-Lucent, Telekom Malaysia (News - Alert), and Subang Jaya Municipality Council (MPSJ) in Malaysia have announced the joint establishment of a public Internet access center (PIAC).

The center will be located in the Malaysian residential hub of Subang Jaya, inside JPSJ’s building, serving area residents with easy access to the Internet.

Residents in the Subang Jaya area who need to visit the MPSJ customer service center are now able to access the Internet through theirWiFi ( News - Alert)-enabled devices at no charge as they wait their turn to meet service officers.

The joint initiative creates a platform for the three organizations to work together in their endeavor to create an accessible communications infrastructure for the public, while fulfilling some of their corporate social responsibility obligations.

“The joint initiative to provide free Internet access by the three parties is indeed timely and beneficial to the people, especially in the wake of calls for austerity due to an anticipated rise in the cost of living in general while continuing to strive to improve the overall standard of living,” said MPSJ President, Dato’ Adnan Md. Ikshan. “The PIAC project demonstrates that by pooling our resources together we can minimize the cost of setting up such communications infrastructure, the services of which are increasingly being sought after by the public.”

Zulkapli Mustafa, general manager of TM Retail MSC, acknowledged that corporate social responsibility is an integral part of the TM business strategy. He claimed that the partnership, which included a local authority and a reputable infrastructure provider, made for good leverage of each one’s resources and expertise within the community.

“As a leader in the fast-evolving telecommunications technologies, applications and services industry, we are eager to make the most of the opportunities offered by our technologies to help Malaysia become an information-based society,” saidAlcatel-Lucent ( News - Alert) Malaysia country senior officer and managing director Pierre Cheyron, in a statement.

Cheyron added: “We aim to sustain our global technological leadership and help the world communicate better, while meeting our obligations to the communities we live and work in. This commitment to social responsibility is one of Alcatel-Lucent most enduring important corporate values.”

Columbus Networks' New Undersea Fiber Cable Lands in Colombia

Colombia to Florida Express Route Nearing Completion

Adds Cable Diversity, Reliability

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Columbus Networks has completed cable installation on the first phase of an undersea fiber optic express route that connects Colombia with Florida. The company expects to illuminate the first of two fiber cable segments and begin offering service in April.

The first-phase undersea cable segment links Cartagena, Colombia and Morant Point, Jamaica. Installation work is continuing on the second phase of the cable that connects Jamaica to Florida in Boca Raton. The principal operator of the ARCOS undersea network, Columbus Networks expects to complete the second leg of the express route in July.

Once complete, the express route will provide customers in Colombia with the most direct route, an increased performance and the lowest latency data and IP connection to the USA, adding data traffic diversity, redundancy, and improved network reliability. See map: http://www.columbus-networks.com/images/columbusnetworksmap.jpg

"Columbus Networks clearly recognizes the importance of the thriving Colombian market on the regions' overall growth and economic expansion," said Paul Scott, president of Columbus Networks. "We decided to build the express route and add cable diversity to better meet increasing bandwidth demand, and to more evenly distribute communications traffic across a multi-path network."

Columbus Networks' Colombia-Florida Sub Sea Fiber Project, dubbed "CFX", includes more than 2,400 kilometers of deep-sea repeated high-capacity fiber optic cable. It also includes a new landing station in Cartagena where other regional communications providers are co-located for interconnection with Columbus Networks.

CFX is the largest network expansion project the company has undertaken since Columbus Communications acquired the company in September 2005.

About Columbus Networks

Columbus Networks is a wholesale service provider that offers advanced, high-speed bandwidth capacity to telecommunications companies and Internet Service Providers. Columbus Networks is the 94 percent owner and principal operator of the Americas Region Caribbean Optical-ring System (ARCOS). With more than 12,000 kilometers of undersea fiber optic cable, the company's ARCOS-1 network, CFX "Express Route" and Curacao to Trinidad link, when combined with the company's affiliates' sub-sea networks connecting The Bahamas (Caribbean Crossings) and Jamaica (Fibralink), positions the company as the leading undersea broadband fiber-optic cable network provider connecting the U.S., Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. Columbus Networks is part of the Columbus Communications group. The company's website is www.columbus-networks.com. Telephone: 1-786-274-7400.

About Columbus Communications

Columbus Communications Inc. is a Barbados-based International Business Corporation that holds investments in retail broadband telecommunication providers based in the Bahamas, Jamaica and Trinidad, and wholesale broadband networks throughout the greater Caribbean and Central American region.

Columbus provides strategic direction, private equity, capital market expertise, technical and network architecture design, marketing support, and general management oversight to each of its investments.

Columbus' operating subsidiaries include Cable Bahamas Limited, FibraLink Jamaica Limited, Columbus Communications Trinidad Limited (operating under the brand, Flow Trinidad), Columbus Networks Ltd. and Columbus Jamaica Limited (operating under the brand Flow Jamaica). All of these companies are private, with the exception of Cable Bahamas which trades publicly on the Bahamas Securities Exchange. The company's website is www.columbuscommunications.com.

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Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban Interconnects offer customers efficiencies in service and costs

 

Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban Interconnects offer customers efficiencies in service and costs

Internet Solutions (IS) has signed interconnect agreements with all of the country's incumbent mobile and fixed line telecommunications companies, and now has live interconnects in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

Agreements include MTN, Vodacom, Cell C and Telkom, as well as several VANs such as Storm, Vox and M-Web. This makes the on-net community a reality.

Interconnection agreements are standard procedure for service providers worldwide to provide their customers with the fastest, cost effective and most direct connections across multiple providers.

This means that the end user benefits by IS exchanging calls directly with other telecoms providers using local links and agreed interconnection tariffs - critical to providing credible commercial alternatives.

"Some of our corporate customers want a higher quality for their voice services and understand the cost implications" says Greg Hatfield, manager, VoIS Solutions at IS.

"These interconnect agreements mean we can offer them differentiated solutions – a SIM-based service to give them maximum savings with a centralised Leased Cost Routing (LCR) offering, and the higher-priced interconnect solution. The interconnect solution offers similar cellular termination quality to using the PSTN, which no SIM-based LCR solution can claim to do, but is still significantly cheaper."

Hatfield concluded by indicating that IS has visibility of demand that would justify interconnects in the next tier of major cities - Pretoria, Port Elizabeth and Bloemfontein – the Pretoria interconnect with Telkom is already underway.

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IBasis Concludes Broad Trial Of IPX Interconnect Service And Standards

IBasis Concludes Broad Trial Of IPX Interconnect Service And Standards

Monday, February 11, 2008; Posted: 02:35 AM

More Breaking News about IBAS IBasis Concludes IP Exchange Trial - Quick Facts *IBasis Completes Extensive Trial Of IP EXchange iBasis Completes Successful GSMA Trial of IPX Interconnect Service and Standards   Click here for More News >>

(RTTNews) - Monday, iBasis Inc. (IBAS | news | PowerRating | PR Charts ), a wholesale carrier of international long distance telephone calls, announced that it has finished an extensive trial of the IP exchange, or IPX, thereby developing it as a private global Internet protocol, or IP, backbone open to any telecommunications company adopting essential technical and commercial standards. The company said that GSM Association, or GSMA, has supervised the trial.

The company noted that by establishing IPX, fixed and mobile service providers would get a technical and commercial platform to safely exchange IP-based traffic, which includes person-to-person voice, content and emerging consumer and business applications, and also with guaranteed quality of service, or QoS, levels.

The much-needed interconnect service standards of the IPX for critical commercial functions including secure billing across multiple networks and platforms were tested in the trial.

In the course of the trial, an iBasis solution for managing IP traffic was successfully demonstrated, indicating the efficiency of IPX to provide commercial transactions and deliver secure, reliable and high-quality IP services across a network linking mobile and fixed telecom operators in Europe and Asia.

iBasis stated that the trial, carried out with the co-operation of Alcatel-Lucent, which provided the expertise on system integration as well as IMS technology in a multi-party environment, has been completed on 18 January 2008. NextPoint provided SBC equipment and expertise.

The trial included intercontinental calling, interoperability between two different IMS platforms and IPX platforms from different vendors, along with fixed-to-mobile testing.

iBasis noted that it would start a second phase of the IPX trail in the second quarter of fiscal 2008.

President and chief executive officer of iBasis, Ofer Gneezy, commented, "With the rapid rise of IP communications, it is particularly crucial that all carriers and service providers involved have an effective interconnection for handling advanced mobile data services and the growing volume of mobile and fixed VoIP traffic."

IBAS closed Friday's regular trade at $4.46, down $0.20 or 4.29%, on a volume of 187K shares.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com Copyright(c) 2008 RealTimeTraders.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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Sonus Networks Unveils New Mobile Technology to Shape Wireless Broadband World

Sonus Networks Unveils New Mobile Technology to Shape Wireless Broadband World

 Sonus mobilEdge(TM) Expands Wireless and Wireline Service Convergence and                   Enables New Revenue Generating Services      WESTFORD, Mass. and BARCELONA, Spain, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sonus Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq: SONS), a leading supplier of service provider IP-voice infrastructure solutions, today at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona unveiled its latest wireless technology that will allow mobile operators to rapidly increase their average revenue per user (ARPU) and leverage their existing high-speed data networks. Sonus' new mobilEdge(TM) Wireless Access Node, integrates seamlessly with the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) enabling operators to deliver never before seen services over existing high-speed data networks cost-effectively and securely.      The new carrier-class product provides consumers with improved access to 2.5G and 3G mobile multimedia services, while enabling network operators to effectively deliver quadruple-play services (voice, video, data and mobility) and expand their wireless network coverage. Sonus will be demonstrating its mobilEdge technology at its booths at Mobile World Congress, # 2E58 and 2E66.      "Macro mobile phone networks were built primarily with outdoor usage in mind and to deliver a separate set of services from wireline networks. For today's consumers, however, the mobile phone is a hub for communication and entertainment, regardless of location, and users want their portfolio of services available on both their mobile and fixed line phones. The Sonus mobilEdge Wireless Access Node not only expands network coverage in a cost- effective manner, it also streamlines the delivery of media-rich services improving the value mobile network operators can offer to their customers," said Hassan Ahmed, president, chairman and CEO, Sonus Networks. "This is a really exciting turning point for mobile networks."      Sonus' mobilEdge lets network operators combine their high-speed data networks with picocell or femtocell technology to maximize the investment they have previously made in their wireless broadband networks. Further, the mobilEdge allows operators to generate increasing minutes and improve the average revenue per user with broader wireless access and additional services.      With Sonus' mobilEdge, subscribers enjoy seamless mobile coverage and a rich array of new IP-based multimedia services, while network operators can realize increased revenue, reduced churn, and lower costs.      Technology Overview      The Sonus MobilEdge Wireless Access Node serves as an anchor node bridging femtocell and picocell access networks, high-speed wireless data networks and IP-based core wireless networks. The mobilEdge supports today's need for 2G GSM and 3G UMTS femtocell and picocell access points for residential and enterprise use, including both in-building coverage and outdoor in-fill applications. In addition, it is fully compliant with the ongoing development of the LTE and SAE efforts within the 3GPP and provides an ideal integration node for 4G radios as they are introduced into the network.      Through standard SIP signaling, the mobilEdge makes centralized IP-based services available to both wireline and wireless subscribers. And by handling mobility-related procedures at the edge of the IP core, the mobilEdge allows IP core and access networks to evolve independently.      The mobilEdge platform leverages the mobile switching technology developed by Zynetix, a company Sonus acquired in April 2007, and Sonus' own field- proven GSX switching platform that drives over 36 billion VoIP minutes a month. With over 100 systems installed on five continents, the Zynetix mobile switching technology is a proven, field-deployed product. It supports common mobile phone call models, provides tightly integrated mobility management, and works with a range of pico/femtocell products.      The industry-leading Sonus GSX is a globally deployed platform. Other GSX- based products provide call routing, TDM-to-IP gateway functions, and secure IP-to-IP border switching. Integrated with the feature-rich Sonus product line, the GSX delivers proven SIP call control and carrier-grade availability on a hardened, highly scalable platform. By integrating the Zynetix mobile switching technology with Sonus' GSX platform, Sonus has created an innovative solution for connecting broadband-attached picocells and femtocells to an IP/SIP core.  
    The Sonus mobilEdge platform is available in two versions:     -- MobilEdge9000 is a modular carrier-class platform that is highly        scalable, and fully redundant.  It can support up to 640,000 mobile        subscribers in a single chassis, which is 16U high and fits in a        standard 19-inch (600 mms) wide telecom rack.     -- MobilEdge4010 is a fixed-configuration carrier-class platform that is        fully redundant, but targeted at smaller central offices.  It can        support up to 25,000 mobile subscribers in a single chassis, which is        3U high and fits in a standard 19-inch (600 mms) wide telecom rack.      About Sonus Networks      Sonus Networks, Inc. is a leading provider of IP-voice infrastructure solutions for wireline and wireless service providers. With its comprehensive IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) solution, Sonus addresses the full range of carrier applications, including residential and business voice services, wireless voice and multimedia, trunking and tandem switching, carrier interconnection and enhanced services. Sonus' voice infrastructure solutions are deployed in service provider networks worldwide. Founded in 1997, Sonus is headquartered in Westford, Massachusetts. Additional information on Sonus is available at http://www.sonusnet.com.      This release may contain forward-looking statements regarding future events that involve risks and uncertainties. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual future events or results. Readers are referred to Item 1A "Risk Factors" of Sonus' Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2007, filed with the SEC, which identifies important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Risk factors include among others: the impact of material weaknesses in our disclosure controls and procedures and our internal control over financial reporting on our ability to report our financial results timely and accurately; the unpredictability of our quarterly financial results; risks and uncertainties associated with the Company's restatement of its historical stock option granting practices and accounting including regulatory actions or litigation; risks associated with our international expansion and growth; consolidation in the telecommunications industry; and potential costs resulting from pending securities litigation against the Company. Any forward-looking statements represent Sonus' views only as of today and should not be relied upon as representing Sonus' views as of any subsequent date. While Sonus may elect to update forward-looking statements at some point, Sonus specifically disclaims any obligation to do so.      The information in this press release is for informational purposes only and is subject to change at Sonus' sole discretion without notice. Sonus has no obligation or commitment to develop or deliver any future release, upgrade, feature, enhancement or function described in this release. The information is provided "AS IS," with all faults, and without any warranties whatsoever, express or implied, including, but not limited to, warranties of merchantability, performance, or fitness for a particular purpose.      Sonus is a registered trademark of Sonus Networks, Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.  
     For more information, please contact:      U.S. Media Relations:     Lucy Millington     +1 978-614-8240     lmillington@sonusnet.com      Investor Relations:     Jocelyn Philbrook     +1 978-614-8672     jphilbrook@sonusnet.com      EMEA Media Relations:     Paula Lender-Swain     +44 (0)1793 601453     plender-swain@sonusnet.com

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AREAS OF COOPERATION BETWEEN MOROCCO AND USA

AREAS OF COOPERATION BETWEEN MOROCCO AND USA

Longstanding Relationship

The United States and Morocco cuts has longstanding friendship. Morocco was the first country to recognize the fledgling American republic one December 20, 1777. One July 18, 1787, the Treaty off Marrakech was implemented, providing "for the protection off American shipping along the Moroccan coast and for trade between the two nations one the basis off most favored nation.  The relationship has continued to grow stronger with several agreements between the two countries.

The Main Bilateral Agreements :
The Kingdom of Morocco and the United states have a rich legal framework. Over the years the countries have signed more than 100 agreements some of them are:

1- The 1786 Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship

2-  Agreement on the encouragement of the investments.  3-Agreement between the Ministry for National Education and the Oceanic and A   tmospheric National Administration for the co-operation within the framework of the program "Earth"  4-Agreement of gift relating to the strategic objective "Promotion of the investments interior and foreign ".  5- Agreement between the CRTS and NASA of the United States on a project of co-operation relating to research on precipitations  6-Agreement between the CRTS and NASA for a collaboration with the program Aeronet (Aerosol Robotic Network) 7-Agreement between the CRTS and NASA on a project of co-operation relating to research on the turning into a desert 8-Agreement on air transports 9-Convention in order to avoid the double taxation on the income and fortune 10-Agreement on the sale of the agricultural produce 11-Cooperation agreement concerning the uses of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes       12-Bearing agreement creation of a Joint Committee for the educational and cultural exchanges. 13-. Agreement between the Division of the Cartography (Direction of the Land Conservation and the   topographic Surveys )    14-. Legal convention of mutual aid out of penal matter. 15. Convention of co-operation between the Ministry of the Cultural Affairs of the Kingdom of Moroocco and Smithsonian institution of the United States of America.        16- Treaty concerning the reciprocal encouragement and the protection of the investments. 17-General agreement on the safety of military information. 18-Convention between the university of Pitliersburg and the school of sciences of information (the ESI of Morocco). 19-Agreement on air transports 20-Draft-agreement between the American Department of Employment and the Ministry for Employment, the Social Affairs and Solidarity, the Ministry for National Education and Youth, the Secretary of State in charge of the Elimination of illiteracy and Education  21- Agreement between the Service of Moroccan Industrial Standardization (SNIMA) and the American Organization in charge of the Standardization of the Testing methods (International ASTM) relating to the adoption of standards ASTM 22-Memorandum of agreement between the Service of Moroccan Industrial Standardization (SNIMA)  and the American Organization in charge of the Standardization of the Testing methods 23-Exchange of letters constituting an agreement on the economic and technical a   assistance 24-Agreement between the National Administration of Aeronautics and Space (NASA) and the Royal Forces on the use of the base of the FAR of Benguerir like landing strip of help for the space shuttle 25-Agreement of free exchange 26. Agreement of telecommunications by satellites

 

EXPORTS FROM USA TO MOROCCO 

 

American exports to Morocco average around $475 million each year. "Leading exports," according to one report, "include aircraft, corn, and machinery. Recently, exports of fabrics and pharmaceuticals have increased significantly.. An FTA with Morocco would continue this trend.

Because America is the world's largest agricultural exporter, American farmers would particularly benefit from expanded market access. During periods of drought, Morocco relies heavily on imported farm products, such as wheat, soybeans, and corn, thus giving U..S. farmers a significant opportunity to export.

EXPORTS FROM MOROCCO TO USA

FTA to allow Morocco export non-Moroccan textile products to USA

4 June 2005

The Free Trade Agreement signed between Morocco and the USA will grant Morocco a waiver from the normal rules of origin and allow the kingdom export textile products from less developed African Sub-Saharan countries.

This agreement will allow Morocco export to the U.S duty-free a quota of 15 million meter squares of finished goods and 500 tons of thread and tissues made out of fibres and cotton coming from less developed African Sub-Saharan countries.

In a communique published Friday, the ministry of Industry, Trade and Economy Upgrading called on enterprises willing to export textile products and clothes into the US market within this preferential frame to register with the ministry before June 27.

The authorised quotas will be assigned by the industry department after having the opinion of a consultative committee composed of the ministry of Foreign Trade, ministry of ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Customs and Indirect Taxes department and Moroccan Association of Textile Industries and Clothing, said the communique.

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MOBILE WORLD: EU's Reding Urges Credible Data Roaming Cuts

Monday February 11st, 2008 / 17h33

(Recasts, adds detail.) By Daniel Thomas Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES BARCELONA -(Dow Jones)- European mobile phone operators must cut how much they charge customers for sending texts or downloading data while traveling abroad by July 1 or incur regulation, the European Union's telecommunications commissioner warned Monday. The announcement drew mixed reactions from Europe's mobile phone operators. European Commissioner Viviane Reding said that operators must slash the cost of sending text messages within the European Union's 27 states to prices similar to local rates, and also agree to lower wholesale prices when it comes to charging each other for customers roaming onto rival mobile data networks abroad. "Sending a text message or downloading data in another country should not be substantially more expensive within another country than when at home," she told reporters at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. "Higher roaming charges abroad must be justified by additional costs of operators. Otherwise, they will have to disappear," she said. If the European mobile phone fraternity doesn't respond by bringing in "credible, but doable" savings for customers by July 1, they could risk having price cuts enforced upon them by European governments, Reding said. "There should also be transparency, where consumers are warned by appropriate mechanisms. They should not receive shock bills of several thousands of euros," she said. "Any move to intervene in this market by regulators could stifle innovation and stunt the development of new data offerings for roaming," said Tom Phillips, chief government and regulatory affairs officer at the GSM Association, a trade body representing most of Europe's mobile operators. "We don't believe that regulation, particularly of retail prices, is an appropriate move in a competitive and fast-evolving market," said Phillips. Vodafone Group PLC (VOD) spokesman Simon Gordon said the company was "taking stock of today's comments" and would continue dialogue with the European Union. Telefonica O2 (TEF) spokesman Simon Lloyd said the company had already led the way with retail price cuts and doesn't object to changes in wholesale fees. "We would welcome wholesale price changes, but it isn't just us that has to cooperate on interconnection," said Lloyd. Kevin Russell, chief executive of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.-owned (0013.HK) mobile operator 3 UK, called for wholesale prices to be cut by at least 70%. "There are inconsistencies in the wholesale market with a few large operators holding on to high wholesale prices. These impact other operators' ability to reduce prices for customers roaming onto other networks and reduces their ability to offer competitive prices at the retail level," said Russell. -By Daniel Thomas, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9264; dan.thomas@dowjones.com
Monday February 11st, 2008 / 17h33	Source : Dowjones Business News

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	Maxcom Reports Results for Full-Year and Fourth Quarter of 2007 MEXICO CITY, Feb. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Maxcom Telecomunicaciones, S.A.B. de C.V. ("Maxcom", or "the Company") (NYSE: MXT) (BMV: MAXCOM) (BMV: CPO) , one of the leading integrated telecommunications companies in Mexico, today announced its unaudited financial and operating results for the full year ended December 31, 2007. The monetary amounts presented in these tables and throughout this document are expressed in millions of Mexican pesos of purchasing power at December 31, 2007, unless otherwise specified, and they have been prepared in accordance with Mexican Financial Reported Standards ("NIF" or "Mexican GAAP"). Monetary amounts may vary due to rounding. Million pesos 2007 2006 Var % REVENUES 2,346 1,742 35% EBITDA 670 457 47% EBITDA Margin 29% 26% Net Income 61 (29) N.A. (in pesos) Earnings per share basic 0.11 -- -- Earnings per share diluted 0.10 -- -- FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS: - Full year 2007 revenues of Ps. 2,346 which increased by Ps. 604 or 35% - Full year 2007 EBITDA of Ps. 670 which increased by Ps. 213 or 47% - EBITDA margin increased by 300 basis points in the year to reach 29% - The Company recorded Net Income of Ps. 61 which increased by Ps. 90 OPERATING HIGHLIGHTS: - Total company Revenue Generating Units(1) or RGU's, increased to 360,942 or by 27% in 2007 - Total number of Wholesale RGU's increased by 128% - Total number of Public Telephony RGU's increased by 48% - Total number of Commercial RGU's increased by 27% - Total number of Residential RGU's increased by 20% Million pesos 4Q07 4Q06 Var % REVENUES 619 495 25% EBITDA 183 134 37% EBITDA Margin 30% 27% Net Income 86 6 1413% FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS: - Fourth quarter revenues of Ps. 619 which increased by Ps. 124 or 25% - EBITDA of Ps. 183 in the quarter which increased by Ps. 49 or 36% - EBITDA margin increased by 300 basis points to reach 30% in the quarter - The Company recorded Net Income for the quarter of Ps 86 which increased by Ps 80 or 14x REVENUE GENERATING UNITS The following table is expressed in Revenue Generating Units or RGU's. RGU is related to the sources of revenue, which may not always be the same as subscriber numbers. One person may subscribe to two different services thereby accounting for only one subscriber but for two RGU's. Revenue Generating Unit is separately a telephony subscriber, broadband internet subscriber, mobile subscriber or paid television subscriber. A home or business may contain one or more RGU's. For example, a subscriber to our paid TV services, broadband internet, mobile telephony service and residential telephony service would constitute four RGU's The term RGU represents an individual service subscriber who generates recurrent revenue for the Company. During the year 2007 Maxcom added a total of 76,454 revenue generating units. As of December 31, 2007, Maxcom reported a total of 360,942 RGU's, an increase of 27% in comparison to the same period last year. RGU's % of YE 2007 RGU's % of YE 2006 RGU Cust 2007 Total Customers 2006 Total Customers Var % Var % Residential 242,888 67% 209,418 201,911 71% 181,488 20% 15% Commercial 70,749 20% 6,116 55,922 20% 5,342 27% 14% Public Telephony 24,910 7% N.A. 16,815 6% N.A. 48% -- Wholesale 22,395 6% N.A. 9,840 3% N.A. 128% -- Total 360,942 100% 215,534 284,488 100% 186,830 27% 15% REVENUES Maxcom total revenues for the full year 2007 were Ps. 2,346, an increase of 35% over revenues of Ps. 1,742, recorded the previous year. The following table is a breakdown of the sources of revenue for the Company. 2007 % of Total 2006 % of Total Var. % Residential Ps. 898 38% Ps. 686 39% 31% Commercial 649 28% 496 28% 31% Public Telephony 386 16% 253 15% 53% Wholesale 376 16% 262 15% 44% Other Revenue 37 2% 45 3% (18%) Total Ps. 2,346 100% Ps. 1,742 100% 35% Total revenues for the fourth quarter were Ps. 619, an increase of 25% over revenues of Ps. 495, recorded in the fourth quarter of 2006. The following table is a breakdown of the sources of revenue for the Company. 4Q07 % of Total 4Q06 % of Total Var. % Residential Ps. 237 38% Ps. 181 36% 31% Commercial 193 31% 133 27% 45% Public Telephony 96 16% 78 16% 23% Wholesale 83 13% 90 18% (8%) Other Revenue 10 2% 13 3% (23%) Total Ps. 619 100% Ps. 495 100% 25% RESIDENTIAL The residential business includes subscribers that are connected to our network and have the capability of receiving one or more of our services, thereby having the possibility to generate several RGU's for the company. In this case they may request, residential telephony service, broadband internet services, paid television services and mobile services. The following table is a breakdown of RGU's for the residential business. 2007 % of Total 2006 % of Total Var. % Voice 218,564 90% 193,469 96% 13% Data 15,213 6% 8,442 4% 80% TV 5,991 2% - - N.A. Mobile 3,120 2% - - N.A. Total 242,888 100% 201,911 100% 20% Residential revenues represented 38% of total revenues during the year, compared with 39% in the previous year of 2006. Revenues in the residential business reached Ps. 898, an increase of 31% in comparison to Ps. 686 in 2006. The increase was mainly driven by the introduction of mobile services, residential Paid TV RGU's, followed by data, and voice in comparison to 2006. For the fourth quarter period ended December 31, 2007 revenues from residential service totaled Ps. 237, or 38% of total revenues, from Ps. 181 recorded in the same period in 2006. COMMERCIAL The commercial business includes subscribers that are connected to our network and have the capability of receiving one or more of our services, thereby having the possibility to generate several RGU's for the company. In this case they may request, commercial telephony service, broadband internet services, mobile and other value-added services that the Company provides. The following table is a breakdown of RGU's for the commercial business. 2007 % of Total 2006 % of Total Var. % Voice 66,194 94% 53,247 95% 24% Data 3,041 4% 2,675 5% 14% Mobile 1,215 2% - - N.A. Other Services 299 0% - - N.A. Total 70,749 100% 55,922 100% 27% Commercial revenues represented 28% of total revenues during 2007. Revenues in the commercial business totaled Ps. 649, an increase of 31% in comparison to Ps. 496 in the year 2006. This increase in revenues was mainly explained by higher number of RGU's from other services, mobile services, voice lines and data services in comparison to 2006. For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2007 revenues from commercial service totaled Ps. 193, or 31% of total revenues, from Ps. 133 recorded in the same period in 2006. PUBLIC TELEPHONY The public telephony business allows the company to install coin-operated public telephones in different cities around the country. Each public telephone in service accounts for one RGU. The following table is a breakdown of RGU's for the public telephony business. 2007 % of Total 2006 % of Total Var. % Public Telephones 24,910 100% 16,815 100% 48% Public Telephony represented 16% of total revenues during the year 2007 in comparison with 15% in the previous year. Revenues in this business totaled Ps. 386, an increase of 53% compared to Ps. 253 in 2006. The growth in the public telephony business was primarily driven by the increase in number of public telephones, which grew 48%. For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2007 revenues from public telephony totaled Ps. 96, or 16% of total revenues, from Ps. 78 in the same period the year before. WHOLESALE The wholesale business includes lines in service for our long distance, high usage customers and carriers. Each line in service accounts for one RGU. The following table is a breakdown of RGU's for the wholesale business. 2007 % of Total 2006 of Total Var. % RGU's 22,395 100% 9,840 100% 128% In 2007, Wholesale revenues totaled Ps. 376, an increase of 44% or Ps. 262 in comparison to the same period of 2006. This year over year increase in the wholesale business was mainly driven by the increase in the long distance termination business lines in service. For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2007 revenues from Wholesale totaled Ps. 83, or 13% of total revenues, from Ps. 90 in the same period the year before. OTHER REVENUES Revenue from other services accounted for 2% or Ps. 37 of total revenues in 2007, a decrease from the Ps. 45 recorded in the same period last year. Other revenues are primarily comprised of lease of microwave frequencies and CPE sales. NETWORK OPERATION COSTS Network Operation Costs in 2007 increased 44% to reach Ps. 977 in comparison to Ps. 677 in the previous year. The Ps. 300 increase was mainly driven by higher: (i) operating costs related to a higher number of public phones in service, (ii) long distance interconnections fees, (iii) leases of circuits and ports, (iv) calling party pays interconnection fees, (v) cost of paid TV operations, and (vi) internet service costs. These increases were partially offset by lower: (i) other service cost such as CATV and mobile wireless operations, (ii) technical expense and (iii) installation expenses and cost of disconnected lines. For the fourth quarter period ended December 31, 2007 network operations costs totaled Ps. 252 from Ps. 204 or a 24% increase in comparison to the same period last year. SG&A SG&A expenses were Ps. 698 in 2007, 15% above Ps. 608 in the same period of 2006. The Ps. 90 increase was mainly driven by higher: (i) salaries, wages and benefits as a result of an increasing headcount; (ii) bad debt reserve; (iii) marketing and advertising expenses; (iv) general and corporate expenses and (v) number of leases. These increases were partially offset by lower: (i) sales commissions; and (ii) external advisory expenses. For the fourth quarter period ended December 31, 2007, SG&A expenses totaled Ps. 184, 17% above Ps. 157 reported in the same period last year. EBITDA EBITDA for the year 2007 was Ps. 670, 47% higher than Ps. 457 in the previous year. EBITDA margin was 29% during the period, three hundred basis points higher than 26% in the same period of 2006. For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2007, EBITDA amounted to Ps. 183, 37% higher than the Ps. 134 registered in the same period of 2006. EBITDA margin for the fourth quarter of 2007 was 30%, three hundred basis points higher than the 27% margin reported in the fourth quarter of 2006. OPERATING INCOME Operating income for 2007 was Ps. 300, 91% higher than Ps. 157 in the previous year. For fourth quarter ended December 31, 2007, operating income for the company reached Ps. 115 when compared to the result registered in the same period of 2006 of Ps. 61, or 89% higher. COMPREHENSIVE FINANCIAL RESULT In the year 2007, the Company registered a comprehensive financial result of Ps. 127, a Ps. 19 increase in relation to the Ps. 107 seen in 2006. 2007 2006 Var Ps. Var % Net interest paid 177 127 50 39% Exchange rate (gain) loss - net (25) 1 (26) N.A. Monetary position (gain) loss (25) (21) (4) 19% Total 127 107 20 19% The higher comprehensive financial result is due to an increase of 39%, or Ps. 50, on the amount of net interest paid, which rose from Ps. 127 in 2006 to Ps. 177 in 2007 which is mainly the result of an increase in total amount of Maxcom's net market debt. However and partially offsetting this increase, the Company recorded: 1. A net exchange rate gain of Ps. 25 in 2007, compared to a net exchange rate loss of Ps. 1 recognized in the same period of last year. The exchange rate gain for 2007 is the result of fluctuations in the parity between the Mexican Peso and the United States Dollar and its respective impact on the Company's monetary positions denominated in foreign currency; and, 2. A Ps. 25 gain in the net monetary position, as a result of a net liability monetary position that was positively impacted by inflation. TAX PROVISIONS The Company registered Ps. 46 in deferred income tax provisions during 2007, compared to Ps. 60 in 2006. Under "NIF" or Mexican GAAP, Bulletin D-4 (deferred taxes, NIF) stipulates that after a careful analysis of certain balance sheet items it is necessary to determine the fiscal implications of future periods, which are recorded as deferred income tax provisions. Total taxes paid including asset tax and income tax for the year 2007 were Ps. 50. For the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2007, the company registered (Ps. 23) in tax provisions, compared to Ps. 12 in the same period of 2006. All registered tax provisions are non-cash items except for the asset tax provision. NET INCOME The Company posted a net income during the year of Ps. 61, which compares favorably to the net loss of Ps. 29 reported in 2006. This net gain is mainly explained by a higher level of income before taxes in 2007 of Ps. 158 in comparison to Ps. 31 in the prior year. For the fourth quarter period ended December 31, 2007, the company registered a net income of Ps. 86 in comparison to a net income of Ps. 6, in the same period of 2006. LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES Operating activities generated resources of Ps. 235, which resulted mainly from consolidated net income, non-cash items (such as depreciation and amortization), and resources generated by Net Change in Working Capital. Liquidity and Capital Resources (million pesos) December 31, December 31, 2007 2006 Resources from operations and Working Capital 235 88 CAPEX (1,252) (1,042) Free Cash Flow (1,017) (954) Financing Activities(2) 2,816 1,452 Cash and Cash Equivalents at the Start of the Period 739 241 Cash and Cash Equivalents at the End of the Period 2,538 739 CAPITAL EXPENDITURES Capital expenditures during the period totaled Ps. 1,252, 20% above Ps. 1,042 recorded in 2006. Capital expenditures were primarily required for telephone network systems and equipment for Maxcom's network. INDEBTEDNESS At December 31, 2007 the Company reported its indebtedness level at Ps. 2,197. The Company's leverage ratio measured by Debt/EBITDA, presented a profile reduction, from the level of 4.2 times in 2006 and reaching 3.3 times in 2007. In addition, Net Debt/EBITDA presented an even more important profile reduction as a result of the recent initial public offering which yielded cash resources for the Company's expansion. RELEVANT EVENTS On October 19, 2007, the Company made its global initial public offering of 14,141,516 American Depositary Shares (ADSs) in the United States and 19,515,152 Ordinary Participation Certificates (CPOs) in Mexico (in both cases including the primary and secondary portions as well as the exercise of the over allotment). Approximately 14% of the ADSs and the CPOs were sold by existing Maxcom shareholders. Each ADS represents seven CPOs, while each CPO represents three Series "A" common shares. After giving effect to this offering, the Company has 789,818,829 Series "A" shares outstanding, and 834,734,070 on a fully diluted basis. PUBLIC FLOAT Series "A" Common Shares ADS's(3) 14,141,516 296,971,836 38% Maxcom CPO(4) 19,515,152 58,545,456 7% Subtotal 355,517,292 45% Total Shares Outstanding 789,818,829 100% The ADSs, trading under symbol "MXT" on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), were initially priced at US$17.50 per ADS. The CPOs, trading under symbol "MAXCOM CPO" in the Mexican Stock Exchange (BMV), were initially priced at Ps$27.10. The over-allotment option was fully exercised for both the ADSs and CPOs. Maxcom's initial public offering resulted in gross proceeds of approximately US$253.8 million, including only primary portion. ABOUT MAXCOM Maxcom Telecomunicaciones, S.A.B. de C.V., headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico, is a facilities-based telecommunications provider using a "smart- build" approach to deliver last-mile connectivity to micro, small and medium- sized businesses and residential customers in the Mexican territory. Maxcom launched commercial operations in May 1999 and is currently offering local, long distance, data, value-added, CATV and IP-based services on a full basis in greater metropolitan Mexico City, Puebla, Queretaro and Toluca, and on a selected basis in several cities in Mexico. The information contained in this press release is the exclusive responsibility of Maxcom Telecomunicaciones, S.A.B. de C.V. and has not been reviewed by the Mexican National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) or any other authority. The registration of the securities described in this press release before the National Registry of Securities (Registro Nacional de Valores) held by the CNBV, shall it be the case, does not imply a certification of the investment quality of the securities or of Maxcom's solvency. The trading of these securities by an investor will be made under such investor's own responsibility. For more information contact: Juan-Carlos Sotomayor Mexico City, Mexico (52 55) 1163 1104 investor.relations@maxcom.com Lucia Domville New York City, NY (646) 284-9416 ldomville@hfgcg.com This document may include forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that are detailed from time to time in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings of the Company. Words such as "estimate," "project," "plan," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," and similar expressions may identify such forward-looking statements. The Company wants to caution readers that any forward-looking statements in this document or made by the company's management involves risks and uncertainties that may change based on various important factors not under the Company's control. These forward-looking statements represent the Company's judgment as of the date of this document. The Company disclaims, however, any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements. APPENDIX (1) MAXCOM REVENUE GENERATING UNITS FOR THE FIRST THRU FOURTH QUARTER OF 2007 REVENUE GENERATING UNITS The following table is expressed in Revenue Generating Units or RGU's. RGU is related to the sources of revenue, which may not always be the same as subscriber numbers. One person may subscribe to two different services thereby accounting for only one subscriber but for two RGU's. Revenue Generating Unit is separately a telephony subscriber, broadband internet subscriber, mobile subscriber or digital cable television subscriber. A home or business may contain one or more RGU's. For example, a subscriber to our paid TV services, broadband internet, mobile telephony service and residential telephony service would constitute four RGU's. The term RGU represents an individual service subscriber who generates recurrent revenue for the Company. 1Q 2007 % 2Q 2007 % 3Q 2007 % 4Q 2007 % Residential 208,674 70% 217,056 69% 232,663 68% 242,888 67% Commercial 60,680 20% 66,632 21% 67,022 19% 70,749 20% Public Telephony 20,102 7% 24,415 8% 25,967 7% 24,910 7% Wholesale 9,840 3% 8,610 3% 19,006 6% 22,395 6% Total 299,296 100% 316,713 100% 344,658 100% 360,942 100% (1) For a full definition of Revenue Generating Unit (RGU) please see section Revenue Generating Units. (2) Includes capital stock increase resulting from recent IPO and market debt placements (3) ADS to common share ratio of 21 (4) Maxcom CPO to common share ratio of 3. MAXCOM TELECOMUNICACIONES, S.A.B. DE C.V. UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEET Amounts in thousands of Mexican pesos ("Ps") in purchasing power as of December 31, 2007 and thousands of U.S. dollars ("$") (1) December 31, 2006 December 31, 2007 Pesos US Dollars Pesos US Dollars ASSETS CURRENT ASSETS: Cash and cash equivalents Ps 739,291 $68,036 Ps 2,538,398 $233,605 Restricted Cash 23,462 2,159 1,137 105 762,753 70,195 2,539,535 233,710 Accounts receivable: Customers, net of allowance 333,948 30,733 517,254 47,602 Value added tax refundable 110,823 10,199 198,583 18,275 Other sundry debtors 40,739 3,749 54,676 5,031 485,510 44,681 770,513 70,908 Inventory 35,790 3,294 33,249 3,060 Prepaid expenses 65,740 6,050 61,630 5,671 Total current assets 1,349,793 124,220 3,404,927 313,349 Frequency rights, Net 88,373 8,132 80,930 7,448 Telephone network systems & Equipment, Net 3,301,437 303,826 4,189,311 385,536 Pre-operating expenses, Net 98,339 9,050 77,902 7,169 Intangible assets, Net 190,248 17,509 208,437 19,182 Retirement obligations 15,068 1,387 17,650 1,624 Deposits 5,973 550 6,943 639 Other assets 16,929 1,557 36,479 3,359 Total assets Ps 5,066,160 $466,231 Ps 8,022,579 $738,306 LIABILITIES CURRENT LIABILITIES: Interest Payable Accrued expenses and other accounts payable 527,602 48,554 513,595 47,265 Senior notes, net 130,785 12,036 -- -- Notes payables 38,931 3,583 8,087 744 Commercial paper 155,639 14,323 -- -- Customers deposits 2,734 252 2,801 258 Payroll and other taxes payable 27,369 2,519 67,182 6,183 Total current liabilities 883,060 81,267 591,665 54,450 LONG-TERM LIABILITIES: Senior notes, net 1,701,353 156,573 2,184,412 201,028 Notes payable 41,851 3,851 4,686 431 Other accounts payable 27,238 2,507 26,068 2,399 Deferred taxes 88,951 8,186 143,457 13,202 Seniority Premiums and Postretirement Obligations 21,756 2,002 26,582 2,446 Other long term liabilities 9,915 912 52,106 4,795 Hedging Valuation 15,121 1,392 -- -- Total liabilities Ps 2,789,245 $256,690 Ps 3,028,976 $278,751 SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY Capital stock 3,327,482 306,223 5,410,251 497,897 Premium on capital stock 253,096 23,292 826,459 76,058 Accumulated deficit (1,274,397) (117,281) (1,303,664) (119,974) Net (loss) income for the year (29,266) (2,693) 60,557 5,574 Total shareholders' equity Ps 2,276,915 $209,541 Ps 4,993,603 $459,555 Total liabilities and equity Ps 5,066,160 $466,231 Ps 8,022,579 $738,306 NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: Financial statements are reported in period-end pesos as of December 31, 2007 to adjust for the inter-period effect of inflation. (1) For readers' convenience, all Peso amounts were converted to U.S. dollars at the exchange rate of Ps.10.8662 per US$1.00. MAXCOM TELECOMUNICACIONES, S.A.B. DE C.V. UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT FOR THE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2006 AND 2007 Amounts in thousands of Mexican pesos ("Ps") in purchasing power as of December 31, 2007 and thousands of U.S. dollars ("$") (1) Year ended December 31, 2006 Pesos US Dollars % REVENUES Ps 1,741,692 $160,286 100% Network operating services 546,031 50,250 31% Technical expenses 113,398 10,436 7% Installation expenses 17,549 1,615 1% Cost of Network Operation 676,978 62,301 39% GROSS PROFIT 1,064,714 97,985 61% SG&A 607,505 55,908 35% EBITDA 457,209 42,077 26% Depreciation and amortization 300,467 27,652 Operating Income 156,742 14,425 Comprehensive Cost of Financing: *Interest expense (144,032) (13,255) **Interest income, net 16,766 1,543 Exchange (loss) income, net (1,419) (131) Gain on net monetary position 21,503 1,979 (107,182) (9,864) Other expenses (18,776) (1,728) INCOME BEFORE TAXES 30,784 2,833 Taxes: Asset Tax -- -- Income Tax (414) (38) Deferred Income Tax Provision (59,636) (5,488) Total Tax Provisions (60,050) (5,526) NET INCOME (LOSS) FOR THE YEAR Ps (29,266) $(2,693) *Adjusted EBITDA Ps 473,191 $43,547 27% NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: * Interest related to Senior Notes, Banks and Vendor Financing ** Interest Income net Financial statements are reported in period-end pesos as of December 31, 2007 to adjust for the inter-period effect of inflation. (1) For readers' convenience, all Peso amounts were converted to U.S. dollars at the exchange rate of Ps$10.8662 per US$1.00. MAXCOM TELECOMUNICACIONES, S.A.B. DE C.V. UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT FOR THE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2006 AND 2007 Amounts in thousands of Mexican pesos ("Ps") in purchasing power as of December 31, 2007 and thousands of U.S. dollars ("$") (1) Year ended December 31, 2007 Pesos US Dollars % REVENUES Ps 2,345,719 $215,873 100% Network operating services 821,868 75,635 35% Technical expenses 136,452 12,557 6% Installation expenses 18,659 1,717 1% Cost of Network Operation 976,979 89,909 42% GROSS PROFIT 1,368,740 125,964 58% SG&A 698,257 64,260 30% EBITDA 670,483 61,704 29% Depreciation and amortization 370,227 34,071 Operating Income 300,256 27,633 Comprehensive Cost of Financing: *Interest expense (232,912) (21,435) **Interest income, net 55,793 5,135 Exchange (loss) income, net 25,247 2,323 Gain on net monetary position 25,231 2,322 (126,641) (11,655) Other expenses (16,076) (1,480) INCOME BEFORE TAXES 157,539 14,498 Taxes: Asset Tax (39,272) (3,614) Income Tax (11,428) (1,052) Deferred Income Tax Provision (46,282) (4,259) Total Tax Provisions (96,982) (8,925) NET INCOME (LOSS) FOR THE YEAR Ps 60,557 $5,573 *Adjusted EBITDA Ps 681,964 $62,760 29% NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: * Interest related to Senior Notes, Banks and Vendor Financing ** Interest Income net Financial statements are reported in period-end pesos as of December 31, 2007 to adjust for the inter-period effect of inflation. (1) For readers' convenience, all Peso amounts were converted to U.S. dollars at the exchange rate of Ps$10.8662 per US$1.00. MAXCOM TELECOMUNICACIONES, S.A.B. DE C.V. UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT FOR THE THREE-MONTH PERIODS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2006 AND 2007 Amounts in thousands of Mexican pesos ("Ps") in purchasing power as of December 31, 2007 and thousands of U.S. dollars ("$") (1) Three-month period ended on December 31, 2006 Pesos US Dollars % REVENUES Ps 495,195 $45,573 100% Network operating services 169,298 15,580 34% Technical expenses 29,740 2,737 6% Installation expenses 4,774 439 1% Cost of Network Operation 203,812 18,756 41% GROSS PROFIT 291,383 26,817 59% SG&A 157,319 14,478 32% EBITDA 134,064 12,339 27% Depreciation and amortization 72,712 6,692 Operating Income 61,352 5,647 Comprehensive Cost of Financing: *Interest expense 57,333 5,277 **Interest income, net (4,677) (430) Exchange income, net (21,576) (1,985) Gain (loss) on net monetary position (6,625) (610) 24,455 2,252 Other expenses 19,496 1,794 INCOME BEFORE TAXES 17,401 1,601 Provisions for: Asset tax -- -- Income tax & deferred tax 11,742 1,080 Total Tax Provisions 11,742 1,080 NET INCOME FOR THE PERIOD Ps 5,659 $521 *Adjusted EBITDA Ps 137,353 $12,640 28% % of revenue Adjusted EBITDA 28% 28% NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: * Interest related to Senior Notes, Banks and Vendor Financing ** Interest Income net Financial statements are reported in period-end pesos as of December 31, 2007 to adjust for the inter-period effect of inflation. (1) For readers' convenience, all Peso amounts were converted to U.S. dollars at the exchange rate of Ps.10.8662 per US$1.00. MAXCOM TELECOMUNICACIONES, S.A.B. DE C.V. UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT FOR THE THREE-MONTH PERIODS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2006 AND 2007 Amounts in thousands of Mexican pesos ("Ps") in purchasing power as of December 31, 2007 and thousands of U.S. dollars ("$") (1) Three-month period ended on December 31, 2007 Pesos US Dollars % REVENUES Ps 618,937 $56,960 100% Network operating services 213,534 19,651 35% Technical expenses 34,083 3,136 6% Installation expenses 4,825 444 1% Cost of Network Operation 252,442 23,231 41% GROSS PROFIT 366,495 33,729 59% SG&A 183,766 16,912 30% EBITDA 182,729 16,817 30% Depreciation and amortization 67,799 6,239 Operating Income 114,930 10,578 Comprehensive Cost of Financing: *Interest expense 58,061 5,344 **Interest income, net (25,834) (2,378) Exchange income, net (19,696) (1,812) Gain (loss) on net monetary position 12,913 1,188 25,444 2,342 Other expenses 7,570 697 INCOME BEFORE TAXES 81,916 7,539 Provisions for: Asset tax 18,863 1,736 Income tax & deferred tax (22,560) (2,077) Total Tax Provisions (3,697) (341) NET INCOME FOR THE PERIOD Ps 85,613 $7,880 *Adjusted EBITDA Ps 183,942 $16,928 30% % of revenue Adjusted EBITDA 30% 30% NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: * Interest related to Senior Notes, Banks and Vendor Financing ** Interest Income net Financial statements are reported in period-end pesos as of December 31, 2007 to adjust for the inter-period effect of inflation. (1) For readers' convenience, all Peso amounts were converted to U.S. dollars at the exchange rate of Ps.10.8662 per US$1.00. MAXCOM TELECOMUNICACIONES, S.A.B. DE C.V. AND SUBSIDIARIES UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN FINANCIAL POSITION FOR THE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2006 AND 2007 Amounts in thousands of Mexican pesos ("Ps") in purchasing power as of December 31, 2007 and thousands of U.S. dollars ("$") (1) Year ended on December Year ended on December 31, 2006 31, 2007 Operating Activities: Net Income (loss) for the year Ps. (29,266) $(2,693) Ps. 60,557 $5,573 Depreciation & amortization 300,467 27,652 370,227 34,071 Labor obligations upon retirement 4,642 427 2,244 207 Deferred income tax 60,051 5,526 46,282 4,260 Stock option plan 15,982 1,471 12,762 1,174 Other non-cash items 17,671 1,626 (359) (33) Subtotal 369,547 34,009 491,713 45,252 Net change in: Account receivables net (251,021) (23,101) (285,003) (26,229) Inventory (19,160) (1,763) 2,541 234 Prepaid expenses 18,414 1,695 4,110 378 Liabilities and other assets, net (29,881) (2,750) 22,055 2,030 Resources provided by operating activities 87,899 8,089 235,416 21,665 Financing Activities: Senior notes and bank financing 1,087,776 100,106 172,599 15,884 Capital stock increase 364,276 33,524 2,643,369 243,265 Resources provided by financing activities 1,452,052 133,630 2,815,968 259,149 Investing Activities: Telephone network system and equipment (1,130,118) (104,003) (1,194,154) (109,896) Intangible assets 190,425 17,525 (54,256) (4,993) Other assets (1,011) (93) (3,867) (356) Telereunion Investment (101,173) (9,311) -- -- Resources used in investing activities (1,041,877) (95,882) (1,252,277) (115,245) Cash and cash equivalents: Increase in cash and cash equivalents 498,074 45,837 1,799,107 165,569 Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year 241,218 22,199 739,291 68,036 Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year Ps. 739,292 $68,036 Ps. 2,538,398 $233,605 NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS: Financial statements are reported in period-end pesos as of December 31, 2007 to adjust for the inter-period effect of inflation. (1) For readers' convenience, all Peso amounts were converted to U.S. dollars at the exchange rate of Ps$10.8662 per US$1.00. Website: http://www.maxcom.com/

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