ATN Aterian Plc

RNS Number:7423A
Atlantic Telecom Group PLC
20 March 2001



ATLANTIC TELECOM GROUP PLC

ANALYST'S BRIEFING VISIT TO FRANKFURT 20 MARCH 2001

  * EUROPEAN NETWORKS STRATEGY
  * LAUNCH OF SERVICE IN HOLLAND



Atlantic Telecom Group PLC ('Atlantic' or 'the Company') is today hosting a
meeting of equity analysts in Frankfurt. The purpose of the meeting is to give
analysts first hand experience of Atlantic's DSL services in practice and the
Company will be demonstrating high speed access to the internet using SDSL at
data speeds of up to 2.3Mbs. Atlantic will also showcase its trial of voice
services delivered over DSL technology.

Atlantic has made rapid progress in a number of areas. The Board believes that
it would be prudent in the current financial climate to capitalise on the
progress made to date, and is giving the following guidance in respect of its
business plans.

Germany

After a significant investment programme, Atlantic expects to have installed
550 co-locations at 31 March 2001. This gives the Company a significant
addressable footprint of about 1,000,000 SMEs. The Company will now hold the
build at this level but retain rights to build out its full complement of
planned installations (a further 200). Although it will take several months
for all the co-locations to acquire back-haul capacity and become operational,
the capital expenditure requirements in Germany will be materially reduced
going forward.

UK

In the UK, the Company has established an important level of infrastructure
and presence in the Manchester area. The Company has extensive fibre
capability, and a number of wireless base stations, all of which have been
enabled with high-speed access. Manchester is also one of the UK's leading
centres for SMEs. This makes the city an ideal location for initial DSL market
deployment, and in line with the Board's conservative view on UK local loop
unbundling, future DSL investment in the UK will be subject to a proven track
record in Manchester. We intend to activate up to 20 co-locations, which in
combination with our wireless base stations will together provide an
addressable market of about 45,000 SMEs.

Holland

We are pleased to announce that we have launched commercial services in
Rotterdam and Amsterdam with six operational co-locations.



Going forward, we are maintaining our investment in Holland at the initial
level made last September, which totaled Euro15 million. This has already
allowed the Dutch build to progress to a level of approximately 55
co-locations in four cites with an addressable footprint of about 100,000
SMEs. Within our existing resources, we intend to install a further 50
co-locations taking the addressable footprint to approximately 225,000 SME's.
These are expected to be complete during May. This level enables the Company
to maximise its addressable market coupled with a relatively conservative
investment.

France

The Company is in the final stages of discussions over the sale of its
interests in France, which although not generating a significant sum, will
eliminate the need for future investment.

Network Assets

Atlantic will maximise the opportunities from its local access networks in the
UK, Germany and Holland along with its substantial national network assets in
the United Kingdom and in Germany. Atlantic is in the process of completing a
swap transaction in Holland, which will give Atlantic a network in Holland
linking its four city systems.

Commenting on the above, Executive Chairman Graham J Duncan stated:

"The impact of the network decisions described above should be to lower the
cash outflow in the next financial year and again in the year ending 31 March
2003. This improves the Company's flexibility, which is crucial in today's
markets.

"At a time when markets are focusing increasingly on issues of funding and
debt levels, we are in a position to provide a conservative business plan
which can be executed from our existing resources.

"We have moved very quickly over the past year to create and consolidate a
solid first-mover advantage in our core markets. With an investment of over #
250 million already made in our networks, these assets will allow us the
opportunity to deliver an increasing level of customers to our services and
increasing value to shareholders."

ENDS

Graham J Duncan/Susy Atkinson, Atlantic     00 49 (0)69 665 42410 (today only)

07808 397 374 (thereafter)

Patrick Toyne Sewell, Citigate Dewe Rogerson     0467 498195

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