Reach Touts Asia/Pac BackboneReach Touts Asia/Pac Backbone

HONG KONG -- REACH, Asia’s leading international wholesale carrier, has beenranked the top IP backbone operator in the Asia-Pacific region by independentmarket-research firm Gartner Inc. This is the third year in a row REACH hasgarnered the honour in the annual Gartner survey.According to the Gartner Report “Asia-Pacific IP Backbone Opportunities 2003,”published in November, REACH is the top IP backbone operator in terms of bothinternational and intra-Asia capacity, outranking all other regional carriers.

“The report’s findings highlight REACH’s unrivalled strengths in infrastructurecapacity and capability in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Mr. Dick Simpson, chiefexecutive officer of REACH. “It confirms REACH’s position as Asia’s leadinginternational wholesale carrier for traffic for this fast-growing region.”

“We are pleased with this recognition of our leadership and are determined to buildon it,” Mr. Simpson continued. “Customers are asking for greater reliability andservice extensions. We are responding to this by structuring our service offeringsaround our key customers’ requirements.”Mr. To Chee Eng, Gartner’s principal telecom analyst in Asia-Pacific and author ofthe Gartner report, said, “for three years in a row, REACH has come out on top of oursurveys in both international capacity and intra-Asia capacity.”

“In terms of international capacity, REACH is among the very few carriers with agood mix of capacity and geographic reach,” said Mr. To.When evaluating which carrier is best in intra-Asia connectivity, capacity is only oneconsideration, Mr. To said. In addition, the ability to connect to more countries andhave peering capabilities as well as customer relationships with major ISPs arecrucial, he added.

Reach Global Services Ltd.