Equant Wins Satisfaction Award, New Contract

August 15, 2002 -- Data and IP services provider Equant (Equant.com) announced two major developments on Wednesday, both a number-one rating in Telemark’s satisfaction survey and a large new contract with a IT service provider.

The five-year, $7 million contract is with Austria’s largest information technology service provider for the financial sector, IT-Austria. The company chose Equant to link 50 worldwide locations via its Equant Frame Relay because of its reliable infrastructure and comprehensive services portfolio.

"As an IT service provider, IT-Austria demands the highest performance for its communications solutions," says Andrew McFadzen, managing director, Equant Germany. "The selection of Equant Frame Relay for this large-scale, multimillion dollar network is testimony to the service's superior performance, exhaustive feature set, and enduring success. In addition, the length of the contract is further evidence of Equant's stability and leadership position in international telecommunications services, especially in frame relay."

Equant says it’s number-one rating among global telecommunications carriers in the Telemark corporate IP user satisfaction survey was the second one this year.

UK-based specialist market intelligence firm Telemark Consulting Ltd. conducts the IP survey twice a year to compare leading network service providers. In results published this week, Equant achieved the highest overall satisfaction rating for the performance of its international business IP services, and was rated the best performer in the network operations group of services.

"We are pleased that Telemark's independent research again confirms that our customers value our ability to deliver reliable and secure global IP services," says Jack Norris, head of Equant customer service. "Giving our customers the highest level of service remains our top priority, and our unique IP portfolio, including the industry-leading Equant IP VPN and Voice for IP VPN solutions, helps them gain a competitive edge in the global marketplace."