CALGARY, Alberta -- Axia NetMedia Corporation ("Axia") announced today that Covage, its French joint venture has approved a national fibre backbone connectivity project.

The project will utilize existing 1,800-kilometre dark fibre infrastructure to create a ringed network from Arras in northern France to Montpellier in the south of France. Upon completion, this project will connect Covage's existing Délégations de Service Publique ("DSPs") to each other and to the main Telecom interconnect point in Paris. Also, Covage's competitive position with respect to new DSP prospects will be enhanced.

Covage expects to enter into definitive agreements and complete the project by mid-year calendar 2009. The project contemplates an innovative commercial approach that involves a capital contribution by Axia of $2.0 million and a fee structure that relates to the volume of customers utilizing Covage's DSPs. Covage believes that the national network will create an attractive value proposition for national operators and large corporate and government customers.

Jean-Michel Soulier, President, Axia Networks France commented, "Covage is continuously looking for ways to improve our service offering to our current and prospective customers. This will enable our customers to connect directly to Paris that is the global gateway for France. As well, Covage will be able to offer guaranteed levels of service differentiating ourselves in the marketplace and allows us to attract and retain service providers. From an operational perspective, we will control our backhaul to Paris while managing our costs more efficiently. This is an exciting project which will add further value to our service offering."

Axia NetMedia Corp. (TSE: AXX)