Qwest's Loss is GTC Telecom's Gain; Company Brings Former Qwest Telecom Executive On Board as Vice President of Business Development - Company Operations

Cambridge Telcom Report, Nov 1, 1999

GTC Telecom Tuesday announced that David Lakso has joined the company's management team as the Vice President of Business Development.

Lakso brings 30 years of telecom experience to GTC Telecom, including extensive experience in operations, customer service, engineering, construction, training, investor relations, carrier relations, acquisition integration, community relations and sales management.

Most recently, he held the position of Vice President of Alternate Channel Sales, Pacific Region for Qwest Communications (Nasdaq:QWST) and LCI. Beginning in 1995 until 1998, he grew the operations from a zero revenue level to more than $40 million annually. Prior to this position Lakso was head of Alternate Channel Sales for the Midwest Region where he was instrumental in producing $13 million in net revenue increases for the three years beginning in 1992.

From 1986 to 1994 he was a Director of Litel Corp. where he developed the Customer Service organization and systems, the Switched Order Processing organization, the Dedicated Order Processing organization and built the Network Control Center including remote testing and facility monitoring. Lakso was the General Manager of United Telephone Co. from 1980 to 1986 and also performed several managerial functions for Ohio Bell Telephone Co. from 1969 to 1980.

Paul Sandhu, CEO of GTC Telecom stated, "We are extremely pleased to have Mr. Lakso's extensive telecom career and program building experience on board with GTC Telecom. He has continually built telecom company programs from the ground up with phenomenal results.

"We believe that Mr. Lakso will be able to step into a similar role at GTC as the Vice President of Business Development, building innovative customer service and operational programs to aid us in our rapid growth. His accomplishments at Qwest made Mr. Lakso an obvious fit for GTC Telecom.

"We are in a critical growth stage right now where we want to establish ourselves in new areas, such as our international pc to phone long distance programs. His experience in growing business in new regions will be a terrific asset to GTC Telecom."

Founded in 1997, GTC Telecom is a Telecom/Internet company, providing long distance service to small- and medium-sized businesses as well as residential customers throughout the United States. GTC Telecom has some of the lowest long distance rates in the industry today to compete with AT&T, Sprint, Qwest Communications and IDT Corp. among others.

GTC Telecom offers a 5-cent-per-minute anytime, anyday long distance rate plan with no monthly fee. Consumers that choose not to be billed on a credit card will be charged a $1.95 per month processing fee. GTC Telecom offers basic Internet and long distance bundled and non-bundled plans. For basic unlimited 56K dial-up Internet access, GTC offers a plan for $9.95 per month.

In addition, GTC offers an array of other Internet services, including wireless T1 access, web hosting at www.gtcinternet.com, and a portal site, www.gtczone.com. The company also offers long distance calling cards via the Internet on its site, www.ecallingcards.com. For further information visit GTC's Web site at www.gtctelecom.com.