Sri Lanka Telecom Trialing Aperto Networks WiMAX Gear; Sri Lanka's Largest Service Provider Testing Wireless Broadband Solution

Business Wire, March 20, 2006

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Aperto Networks, developer of the world's most advanced WiMAX base stations and subscriber units, and Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), Sri Lanka's premier telecommunications service provider, announced today that SLT has begun deploying and testing a WiMAX broadband wireless solution based on equipment provided by Aperto Networks.

Upon the completion of the trial, services based on the WiMAX network will be made commercially available. Aperto Networks has provided various elements of the WiMAX network, including base stations, antennas, subscriber equipment, and an element management system and is providing technical assistance in execution of the trial.

"WiMAX has the potential to benefit Sri Lanka enormously," said Shuhei Anan, CEO of Sri Lanka Telecom. "WiMAX is a high-speed, high-capacity, long-range wireless delivery system of all things digital -- including data, voice, and video content. Our decision to partner Aperto Networks will greatly enhance our ability to offer a wide array of affordable broadband wireless services in Sri Lanka in the years to come."

"We are very excited to be participating with SLT on this leading-edge WiMAX trial," said Reza Ahy, chairman and CEO of Aperto Networks. "We will work diligently to ensure that the trial is a success and we eagerly anticipate working with SLT to roll out a commercially available WiMAX network in the near future."

Through the process of standardization, interoperability and industry certification, WiMAX is expected to be a much more cost effective broadband technology than traditional wire-line based technologies such as ADSL and dialup lines.

About SLT

Sri Lanka Telecom is one of the country's most valuable blue-chip companies with an annual turnover in excess of Rs.30 billion. The group company has a customer base of over one million including multinational corporations, large and small corporations, retail and domestic customers. SLT's services range from domestic and international voice, advance data transmission services which include internet services on leased lines, broadband (on ADSL) and dial up, data circuits, frame relay solutions, to IP based services such as IP-VPN, total solutions of combination of multiple services, satellite uplink services and mobile telephony through its fully owned subsidiary Mobitel. For more information, visit www.slt.lk.

About Aperto Networks

Aperto Networks helps leading service providers deliver affordable wireless voice and broadband profitably by building the world's most advanced WiMAX base stations and subscriber units. Aperto fundamentally changes the economics of delivering voice and broadband services through IP-rich, point-to-point and point-to-multipoint networks, allowing carriers to offer a wider variety of services to more customers using less equipment. Its carrier-class WiMAX technology offers industry-leading subscriber density, quality of service, ease of use and reliability. Aperto is a founding board member of the WiMAX Forum as well as a founder and lead contributor to IEEE 802.16 and the ETSI-BRAN standards. Serving more than 200 customers in 65 countries, Aperto Networks is based in Milpitas, California. For more information on Aperto Networks, go to www.apertonet.com.