Tellium to Transfer to Nasdaq SmallCap Market; Nasdaq SmallCap Market Application Approved; Transfer Scheduled for the Opening of Business on November 19, 2002

Business Wire, Nov 14, 2002

Business Editors

OCEANPORT, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 14, 2002

Tellium, Inc. (Nasdaq: TELM), announced today that it will transfer the listing of its common stock to the Nasdaq SmallCap Market from the Nasdaq National Market.

The Company's common stock will be transferred to the Nasdaq SmallCap Market at the opening of business on November 19, 2002, and will continue to trade under the symbol TELM.

Tellium sought a transfer to the Nasdaq SmallCap Market as its common stock had not met Nasdaq's $1.00 per share minimum bid price required for continued listing on the Nasdaq National Market for more than 30 consecutive days. A transfer to the Nasdaq SmallCap Market gives Tellium additional time to meet the Nasdaq minimum bid price listing requirement of $1.00 per share.

By transferring to the Nasdaq SmallCap Market, Tellium may be afforded extended grace periods in which to satisfy the minimum bid price requirement, potentially until August 4, 2003, provided it meets other applicable listing criteria. Furthermore, the company may be eligible to transfer back to the Nasdaq National Market if its bid price maintains the minimum $1.00 per share requirement for 30 consecutive trading days and it has maintained compliance with all other continued listing requirements on the Nasdaq National Market. The company believes that it currently meets, and expects to continue to meet, all of the Nasdaq National Market listing requirements other than the $1.00 minimum bid price.

About Tellium

Tellium delivers high-speed, high-capacity, intelligent core optical solutions, that empower service providers around the world to create, run, control and optimize their networks. First in the world to provide in-service, intelligent optical switches, Tellium's Aurora Optical Switch(TM) family and the StarNet Software Suite(TM) together offer service providers a simple and cost-effective migration path to next-generation public networks. More information is available at www.tellium.com.

Tellium(R)...smarter, faster optical networks.(TM)

Certain matters discussed in this press release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions of the company that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this release include, but are not limited to: our ability to regain the Nasdaq minimum bid price listing requirement of $1.00 per share; that we will be afforded extended grace periods in which to satisfy the minimum bid price requirement; our expectation that we will continue to meet all of the Nasdaq National Market listing requirements other than the minimum $1.00 bid price per share; our ability to deliver better, faster and more cost-effective products to the marketplace, and all other statements that are not purely historical. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially including, without limitation, the risk that (1) we are unable to regain the Nasdaq minimum bid price listing requirement of $1.00 per share; (2) that we will be not be afforded extended grace periods in which to satisfy the minimum bid price requirement; (3) we are unable to continue to meet all of the Nasdaq National Market listing requirements other than the minimum $1.00 bid price per share; (4) we face possible delisting from the Nasdaq National Market, which would result in a limited public market for our common stock and make obtaining future equity financing more difficult for us; (5) the delisting of our common stock from either the Nasdaq National or SmallCap Market may have a material adverse effect on us by, among other things, reducing: the market price of our common stock, the number of institutional investors that will consider investing in our common stock, the number of market makers in our common stock, the availability of information concerning the trading price and volume of our common stock, the number of broker-dealers willing to execute trades in shares of our common stock, and our inability to obtain equity financing for the continue of our operations; (6) if delisted, when, if ever, our common stock would once again be eligible for listing on either the Nasdaq National or SmallCap Market; (7) errors or defects in our products are found only after full deployment in a customer's network; (8) our products are unable to operate within customer networks; (9) our products fail to meet contract specifications or industry standards that may emerge; (10) we fail to develop new and enhanced products; (11) we are unable to increase market awareness and sales of our products; (12) we are unable to comply with government regulation; and (13) industry conditions and our workforce reductions could impact product development and existing customer contracts.

These and other factors and other risks and uncertainties are discussed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly the "Risk Factors" section of our annual and quarterly reports. The forward-looking statements in this press release are only made as of this date, and the company assumes no obligation to update the information included in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.