Business Services Industry

VersaTel Connects the First Belgian Business Park to the Local Access Fibre Network: Mechelen North

Business Wire, Dec 3, 1999

ANTWERP, Belgium--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 3, 1999--

VersaTel Telecom International NV announced today that the Mechelen North Business Park has been connected to its glass fibre network via the so-called wide band "local glass fibre ring." VersaTel can now offer these businesses unlimited bandwidth and a complete package of services in the domain of speech, data and Internet.

For VersaTel this is the first business park ring which is ready for use and is thus a milestone in the history of VersaTel Belgium. The local acces ring is about 5.5 km long and is connected to the 375 km long Brussels- Antwerp- Amsterdam fibre optic ring.

Importance

The Mechelen-North business park is good for about seventy potential customers within VersaTel's business target group. Philip Mathuis, Managing Director of VersaTel Belgium explains the advantages: "We offer the businesses not only wideband access without any restriction in speed or capacity, but also a total package of services, and that at a unbeatable price."

For the business park in Mechelen- North this new network is economically very important. For businesses the presence of a wideband infrastructure plays an ever more important role in the choice of a place of business and in decisions on future investments. Moreover the new network will cause the price of wideband to fall sharply. Through this not only economic growth such as e-commerce can develop abundantly, but also cheap and rapid data and Internet traffic between businesses mutually.

Network

The fiber optic ring in Mechelen- North forms part of the high-quality fibre optic network that the operator at this moment is constructing in Benelux. This network of more than 2200 km with a number of international connections was developed specifically to satisfy the needs of the business world in Benelux. It winds along and through the business parks, so that more than 270,000 businesses lie within a radius of 5 km of the fiber optic network, more than 90,000 lie within a radius of 1 km. In Belgium VersaTel has already laid ducts for 610 km in the ground, of which 70% is operational. A further 350 km will be added next year. For the local access network VersaTel Belgium envisages a further 150 km. The business park ring in Mechelen North is the first part of it.

Evolution

In Belgium VersaTel Telecom has been active since 1998. Expansion of the business has occurred as swift as an arrow. After just over a year there are 150 members of staff for 3500 customers.

From July 1999 VersaTel could connect its first customers directly to the network. Thus resounding names such as Confreight NV and the Antwerp Chamber of Commerce and Industry have signed a contract with the operator.

VersaTel Telecom International is an independent, rapidly growing, competitive network manager, which is primarily directed towards the Benelux. VersaTel wishes to become the most prominent fully integrated supplier of local access and wide band services with its own means, which include speech, data and Internet services for businesses in Benelux.VersaTel was formed in October 1995, and since June 1998 has been active in Belgium. It numbers more than 20,000 business customers and 550 employees. The shareholders of VersaTel are the main investor NesBIC and its IT and telecomms specialised NeSBIC CTE Fund, Parisbas Holdings and NPM Capital. At present VersaTel is constructing a data and multimedia network in order to be able to offer to businesses in Benelux voice, data and Internet services. VersaTel is a company quoted on the Amsterdam stock exchange and the Nasdaq National Market under the symbol "VRSA". More news and information is obtainable on http://www.versatel.com/.>