Telegroup® Promotes Ronald L. Jakenthal to Senior Vice President, Global Carrier Services
FAIRFIELD, Iowa, May 8, 1998 -- Telegroup, Inc. (NASDAQ: TGRP - News), a leading global telecommunications provider, today announced the promotion of Ronald L. Jackenthal to Senior Vice President, Global Carrier Services, a promotion which reflects the Company’s commitment to the carrier wholesale marketplace. In his new position, Mr. Jackenthal is responsible for worldwide carrier services, including vendor negotiations and wholesale business development.
Steven Baumgartner, President and Chief Operating Officer of Telegroup, commented, "For the past year, Mr. Jackenthal has served as Telegroup's Vice President of North American Carrier Sales. Under his leadership, the domestic U.S. carrier customer base has doubled and monthly revenues more than tripled. Ron has attracted the best talent in the industry to Telegroup. He is clearly one of the most respected professionals in telecommunications in developing global wholesale relationships and managing carrier services. He has made an enormous contribution at Telegroup and will continue to build our carrier business." Prior to joining Telegroup, Mr. Jackenthal was National Director for Carrier Sales at Cable & Wireless Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Cable and Wireless, PLC.
"We will continue to leverage the success of Telegroup's global distribution channel to grow our wholesale customer base. The fact that Telegroup's name is well known throughout the world as a market leader in alternative telecommunications gives us an advantage in entering new wholesale markets,” explains Jackenthal. "The Company has made a long-term commitment to servicing the European market, the largest telecom market in the world. I believe we have a significant lead over our wholesale competition because of our interconnect agreements in the U.K. and Europe. Telegroup already has 25 interconnects in six European countries, and we have executed a significant number of agreements with other European providers, pending activation of our new DMS switch in London. These interconnect agreements give the Company an extremely deep portfolio of trading partners, delivering both immediate revenue and cost savings." Telegroup's current European operations include 8 switches and 4 POPs (points of presence) in 9 European countries: U.K., Germany, France, Netherlands, Italy, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium, and Sweden. The Company has committed substantial state of the art resources to supporting its European operations. Its London site will continue to act as Telegroup's European switching hub. Telegroup plans to activate its Nortel DMS GPS telephony switch in London by June, along with the STM-1 it has recently purchased on the cable system Gemini. Capable of carrying 2400 voice calls simultaneously, the Gemini STM-1 will link Telegroup’s gateway hubs in New York City and London.
Telegroup is a leading global provider of alternative long distance telecommunications services offered in over 200 countries to small- and medium-sized businesses and residential customers. The company also provides value-added wholesale services to over 40 domestic and international telecommunications carriers. Telegroup is recognized as having one of the most comprehensive global sales, marketing, and customer service organizations in the telecommunications industry. The company operates a digital, facilities-based network, the Telegroup Intelligent Global Network‚, which consists of a central operating center, twenty-one switches, five enhanced service platforms, owned or leased capacity on nine digital fiber-optic cable links, and leased parallel data transmission capacity. Telegroup had revenues of $337 million in 1997.
Application of the Safe Harbor of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This news release contains statements which are not historical facts and may be considered 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, including expansion of Telegroup’s network, improvement of Telegroup’s competitive position, and achievement of Telegroup’s business plan. Telegroup’s actual results might differ materially due to numerous factors including, without limitation, the Company’s success in developing its business plan, and acquiring additional financing needed to meet this plan, foreign currency fluctuations, termination of certain operating agreements, and changes in tax law. Those and other risks are described in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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