BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Arbinet-thexchange, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARBX - News), the robust transaction platform for buying and selling voice and data capacity, announced today that the company has opened an office in Beirut to support its increased membership in the growing Middle East region.

Arbinet, which increased its worldwide membership last year, experienced Member growth in the Middle East with a number of regional service providers joining thexchange including Umniah Mobile Company, a licensed mobile operator in Jordan; Kulacom Jordan, a WiMAX operator in Jordan and Mobitel, a mobile operator located in Northern Iraq. Arbinet's 990 Members, as of year-end 2007, including the world's 10 largest international carriers, now reach more than 1,300 destinations around the world.

To thrive in the highly competitive global communications market, Middle Eastern service providers such as Umniah and Kulacom Jordan must offer their customers reliable global termination to support quality voice traffic. Arbinet's suite of services, including AssuredAxcess(sm) (AAX), PrivateExchange(sm) (PEX) and DirectAxcess(sm) (DAX), offer carriers high voice quality, superior answer seizure ratio (ASR), and the ability to execute trades with any buyer or seller around the world through a single interconnection to thexchange platform. Additionally, many of these companies join thexchange because they benefit from an efficient, outsourced settlement solution.

"Arbinet's portfolio of services offers us a quality connection to multiple operators through an efficient, cost-effective platform with faster terms and guaranteed payment," said Talal Ghaith, IP Service Manager, Umniah Mobile Company.

"We chose Arbinet to announce our Jordan DID offering to the global market, and rely on AssuredAxcess to deliver optimal outbound VoIP calls," commented Ali Awad, Chief International Business Development Officer, Kulacom Jordan.

Arbinet's offerings provide for a range of customer needs. With Voice on thexchange(sm), Members can purchase or sell capacity for specific routes while outsourcing billing and credit management to Arbinet and consolidating all buy and sell transactions into one net payment. AssuredAxcess gives carriers an efficient way to buy from an A-Z rate sheet at a fixed rate and term. DirectAxcess uses Arbinet's robust marketplace and expertise to manage retail termination on the network through the open market, which in turn gives members more choice, predictability and higher quality. Alternatively, PrivateExchange offers a private marketplace where carriers can focus on building key partnerships that might otherwise be difficult due to TDM to VoIP incompatibility, geographic limitations, credit or other issues.

"Arbinet plans to continue to focus on delivering solutions with exceptional customer service in the Middle East as this is an increasingly developing region," commented Ken Robinson, Arbinet's VP Strategic Development, Europe, Middle East and Africa. "Members are using Arbinet's portfolio of services to support both wholesale and retail voice traffic, reaching hundreds of buyers and sellers with one interconnect. Arbinet enhances Members efficiency and quality while allowing them to create new business opportunities in the market."

Arbinet-thexchange Inc. (Nasdaq: ARBX)