WASHINGTON -- Cogent Communications Group, Inc. (AMEX: COI), a Tier One, next-generation optical Internet Service Provider, announced today that it is launching an On-Net 500 Kilobit per second (Kbps) service called Fiber 500. This new product will compete directly with DSL offerings on price, but it will also provide a superior level of performance that cannot be matched by ordinary copper line-based services. Cogent’s all-optical, facilities-based network enables Cogent to provide each customer a dedicated, non-oversubscribed Internet connection with a 99.99% reliability guarantee. Cogent is offering Fiber 500 in 20 markets nationwide in the same buildings in which it provides its trademark service of 100 Mbps for $1,000 per month. Fiber 500 is designed to attract approximately 40% of an office building’s tenants that currently use DSL or Cable modems and would not typically consider a jump to 100 Mbps at $1,000 per month. Pricing Fiber 500 at $249 per month will provide DSL customers with a cutting edge, higher performance network at a price they can afford. “We want to be equally attractive to every tenant in a Cogent designated building regardless of their bandwidth needs. It’s tough to ask someone paying $300 per month for DSL bandwidth to jump to $1,000 per month for 100 Mbps, no matter how great of a deal that really is. Our Fiber 500 product is designed to provide a superior product to the DSL marketplace,” said Dave Schaeffer, CEO Cogent Communications. “Fiber 500 provides a protected, dedicated half megabit connection at a price point that will complement Cogent’s 100 Mbps offering, not compete with it.“ Cogent Communications Group Inc.