Metalink Expands Into Japan

YAKUM, Israel -- Metalink (Nasdaq: MTLK), a leading provider of high performance wireline and wireless broadband communication chipsets, announced today that the company has opened an office in Japan. The opening of the office in Yokohama, Japan reflects the company's commitment to better enhance its ability to capitalize on the high-growth broadband markets and provide its customers with rapid overall support. In June, Metalink established the company's Far East subsidiary, Metalink Asia Pacific Ltd., and opened its first local office in Seoul, South Korea. "Japan and China dominate the story of world-wide growth for DSL in the first half of 2003, adding almost 4.5 million subscribers between them. The world as a whole added 10.7 million DSL lines to reach a total of 46.7 million DSL lines, a growth rate of 30% for the half year. Japan, having only recently overtaken the US in terms of number of subscribers, is now extending its lead. It added over 2.6 million subscribers in the first half of 2003 putting it top of the list for numbers of lines in total and numbers of lines added in the first half of 2003," according to a Point Topic DSL Analysis report. "Japan is the world leader in both the number of broadband subscribers and growth, as well as deploying the most advanced broadband services and speeds. The opening of a local office in Japan will enable Metalink to work more closely with our customers to offer them the most advanced combination of commercially deployable and high-performance VDSL technology," said Mr. Ronen Avron, Metalink's Vice President of World Wide Sales. Metalink has named Mr. Masaharu Katayama as its Country Manager for Japan. Mr. Katayama has over ten years of experience in the telecommunications industry, and he will be responsible for promoting business and strategic development, including establishing strategic relationships with leading broadband OEMs, cultivating strategic alliances with Japanese partners, and enhancing Metalink's market visibility with Japanese service providers and operators. Metalink Ltd.