Wholesale VoIP: AT&T Launches Wholesale VoIP Services With Ethernet Access and eMaintenance

AT&T Launches New Services to Help Wholesale Customers Meet Increased Demand

Offers Include VoIP With Ethernet Access and eMaintenance

San Antonio, Texas, April 2, 2008

AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) has announced that the company is introducing Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services to help wholesale customers meet the burgeoning demand for these growth services.

AT&T is announcing the availability of a Gigabit Ethernet connectivity interface for AT&T Voice Over IP Connect Service (AVOICS) and the AT&T BusinessDirect^® portal for AT&T Global Hubbing IP Access (GHIA) customers.

The AVOICS Gigabit Ethernet connectivity interface enables customers to interconnect with the AT&T network more efficiently, more easily manage their networks and edge equipment and help reduce costs through the use of less expensive interface hardware.

The GHIA platform will now incorporate the award-winning AT&T BusinessDirect customer portal to manage all service maintenance issues, providing a virtual telecommunications department that helps customers manage their communications services online. This will help customers increase productivity, improve the speed and accuracy of transactions, optimize network efficiency in near real time and reduce costs.

Industry analysts have noted that VoIP is a growth engine for the wholesale industry. "The wholesale VoIP industry is expected to continue to grow through 2010," said Judy Reed Smith, founder and chief executive officer of ATLANTIC-ACM, which provides strategic consulting and research services to businesses around the world. "AT&T's VoIP services enable service providers to broaden their footprint and increase their bandwidth by connecting to the AT&T IP network platform."

AVOICS is the flagship wholesale VoIP offered to U.S. service providers that require IP-based connectivity to AT&T's global IP network for long distance call termination. Customers connect to AVOICS via AT&T's Multiprotocol Label Switching-Private Network Transport (MPLS-PNT) service. AT&T's advanced worldwide voice-networking infrastructure provides the foundation for a variety of unbranded and unbundled domestic long distance and international service offerings to wholesale customers for both resale and internal use. Just five months after AT&T announced the expanded availability of AVOICS, the company is responding to customer demands by adding an Ethernet access option.

The GHIA platform is designed to provide flexible solutions for both U.S. and global customers with high international call volumes. GHIA is a centrally managed service that allows service providers to easily establish and operate IP telephony services over AT&T's award-winning global network.

"By adding these options to our portfolio, we are demonstrating our agility and continued commitment to provide innovative voice and IP solutions to our wholesale customers," said Rise Frankel, executive director of Wholesale Marketing for AT&T Operations Inc. "Ethernet is quickly becoming the de facto access method that wholesale customers are looking for in terms of capability and flexibility because it can be used as the foundation for VoIP, IP access, intranet connectivity and MPLS core services. An Ethernet interface typically allows for seamless growth as customer bandwidth requirements increase."

As a global leader, AT&T delivers a full portfolio of end-to-end, reliable and highly secure network, voice, data and IP solutions to the six wholesale industry segments that it serves: carriers, wireless operators, cable providers, systems integrators, Internet service providers and content providers. AT&T is one of the largest wholesale transport and communications service providers in the world — maintaining connections to more than 400 carriers in more than 220 countries and territories. AT&T brings value to wholesale customers through its global networking, industry-leading portfolio and vertical expertise.

For the complete selection of AT&T Wholesale offerings, visit www.att.com/wholesale.

tag: ATT, Wholesale VoIP, AT&T Global Hubbing IP Access, GHIA, eMaintenance, AT&T Voice Over IP Connect Service, AVOICS, BusinessDirect® portal, MPLS-PNT,