Las Vegas, NV // 2006-03-22

PacketFront significantly lowers carrier's OPEX for triple play services for housing development in Mexico

PacketFront, the world leader in open access fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) technology and next generation broadband aggregation, has announced that Internet por Fibra S.A. de C.V. "Interfibra", a pioneering carrier based in Monterrey, Mexico, will deploy PacketFront's fully automated broadband solution in several low-income housing projects. In partnership with local property developers, Interfibra will use the PacketFront solution to offer differentiated Internet, IP transport of telephony signals, and IPTV services to the new housing projects, which will comprise of over 4,000 homes in the first phase.

In order to provide residents IP triple play services at rates as low as $25 per month, Interfibra sought ways to reduce its operating and capital expenditures. Interfibra selected PacketFront's broadband solution that includes BECS™, a control and provisioning system, and Access Switching Routers (ASRs), for its proven ability to cost-effectively manage the delivery of triple play services.

The BECS system uses a subscriber management tool to allow customers to self-provision IP services. By allowing users to activate services from their own home, and enabling Interfibra to 'troubleshoot' problems from a remote location, BECS prevents unnecessary customer maintenance visits and significantly reduces OPEX costs.

Additionally, Interfibra will leverage the BECS web-login feature to allow residents to use prepaid cards to activate and pay these services. The web-login feature is used to validate a pre paid service and once authenticated the pre-paid service will be provisioned by BECS across the network. PacketFront's BECS system not only reduces the running costs for the network provider, but saves residents from receiving multiple bills for their IP services.

"The extensive automation features of PacketFront's solution make it the industry leader in terms of the cost-effective control, delivery and automation of IP services," said Jorge Ortiz, CEO of Interfibra. "BECS is a very flexible system that has enabled us to build a complete and sophisticated provisioning platform for pre-paid users by the simple integration of a standard RADIUS server. Additionally, PacketFront's unique focus on controlling the OPEX costs of running a broadband network, especially as subscribers and services are continuously added to the deployment, was critical in our decision-making process."

The modular homes will be built over a short period of time, and Interfibra will be providing triple play services immediately. The flexibility of the PacketFront solution will ensure the easy and seamless delivery of these IP services.

"We are delighted to be involved in such a refreshing FTTH project, where the focus is not only on delivering triple play services to just affluent developments," said Martin Thunman, CEO for PacketFront. "PacketFront is aware that there is a growing need to distribute Internet services to a wider and more diverse sector of society, and we hope that the cost-effective strategies incorporated into our broadband solution go a long way towards achieving this. This business model makes sense for both the carrier and the local property developer."

About Interfibra
Internet por Fibra S.A. de C.V. is a new Mexican Cable TV company that is leveraging fiber and next generation IP/Ethernet access technology to deliver state of the art triple play services in the dynamic Mexican new housing market.