TRICOM Installs the Most Advanced International Gateway Switch in the Caribbean - Nortel Networks DMS-500 SuperNode gateway-tandem switch - Product Information

Cambridge Telcom Report, August 23, 1999

TRICOM (NYSE: TDR) announced Wednesday the installation of a Nortel Networks DMS-500 SuperNode gateway-tandem switch in the city of Santiago. The third international gateway switch for TRICOM is one of the first combined local and international switches to be installed in the Caribbean.

The Nortel Networks DMS-500, a multi-service switching system, combines the local and long distance services into a single physical voice and data switching platform. The hardware and software provided for the DMS-500 is year 2000 compliant and allows for an extensive portfolio of services for both residential and business usage. The switch installation is an indication of TRICOM's expectations for the considerable unmet demand for local service in the city of Santiago and the Dominican Republic's northern region. The full integration of local and long distance in a single switch is expected to yield both cost and service efficiency benefits.

"Currently, the city of Santiago receives close to 50% of the Company's inbound traffic," commented Arturo Pellerano, Chairman and CEO, adding: "The installation of this new gateway switch embodies our ongoing local and international expansion strategy and will allow TRICOM to offer everything from narrowband residential services to custom-tailored packages for highly sophisticated business clients."

"Nortel Networks is proud to take part in TRICOM's efforts to provide the people of the Dominican Republic with state-of-the-art telecommunications services. With the implementation of Nortel Networks' DMS-500 switching system TRICOM adds power to its long distance network and offerings more flexibility to local customers in Santiago," noted Francisco (Paco) Peralta, Managing Director for the Caribbean, of Nortel Networks CALA.

TRICOM currently has local service coverage in seven cities, addressing a total population of 4 million, and will introduce service to five additional cities in the year 2000. The Company plans to target the country's central and northern regions where penetration levels are lower than the country's average of approximately 10 lines per 100 inhabitants.

With the deployment of its Wireless Local Loop, the Company has the fastest local service response time in the market enabling it to cover large areas of the population. TRICOM expects to considerably increase its market share going forward as it now has the ability to provide telephony services to widespread areas, enabling it to use mass marketing techniques to target underserved markets.

TRICOM is a full-service telecommunications provider in the Dominican Republic, and a facilities-based long distance carrier in the United States. TRICOM commenced operations in 1992 and has since expanded to offer international and domestic long distance, local telephony, analog cellular and PCS, paging and Internet services. TRICOM is the fastest growing Company in the fastest growing sector of Latin America's fastest growing economy, and serves both the densely populated and underserved areas of this Caribbean nation and offers long distance service to the over 1 million Dominicans living in the United States. TRICOM's network is 100% digital and utilizes cutting edge technology. The Company operates one of the World's largest CDMA-Wireless Local Loop networks. FMI: http://www.tricom.net.