Destia and Viatel Announce Joint Offering: The 'One World, One Rate' Club

GENEVA (PROTEXT) - Unprecedented Program Features 5 Cents PerMinute Calling for Residential & Business Customers, IncludingCalling Cards, to and from the U.S., Canada and Six WesternEuropean Countries Destia Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: DEST) and Viatel, Inc.(Nasdaq: VYTL) today announced a revolutionary product called the"One World, One Rate" Club. Membership is open to business andresidential customers in Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, TheNetherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the UnitedStates. Club members will be able to make domestic andinternational long-distance calls within and to the eightcountries -- 24 hours a day, 7 days a week -- for only five centsper minute. The announcement was made today at Telecom '99 -- theindustry's largest international telecommunications trade shownow underway in Geneva, Switzerland -- by Alfred West, chairmanand chief executive officer of Destia Communications, and MichaelJ. Mahoney, chairman, president and chief executive officer ofViatel. Both Destia and Viatel are exhibitors in the U.S.Pavilion (Booth # 1130.01B and 1010.012, respectively) at thisshow. The new breakthrough Club rate is scheduled to be rolled-outon January 1, 2000. However, consumers may begin signing up nowand will be switched automatically to the new service on January1. At that time they will be charged only five cents per minutefor any call placed within and to any country in the combinedViatel-Destia network, including Belgium, Canada, France,Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and theUnited States. The five-cent Club rate will also apply to callsto Hong Kong and Sweden. Calls outside the network will be billedat exceptional rates as well. For example, the per minutesurcharge to Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Ireland,Italy, New Zealand, Norway, and Russia (Moscow) will be just 2.5cents in addition to the base rate of five cents. The "One World, One Rate" Club is designed to break the moldand redefine telecommunications for the new millennium byleveraging both companies' networks -- both in the US and WesternEurope -- for our customer's advantage," said Alfred West,chairman and chief executive officer of Destia Communications."Destia and Viatel are able to change the rules of the telecomgame because of our unique ability to deliver our products andservices via our own state-of-the-art fiber optic network." "Unlike 'traditional phone companies,' our vision is acommunications world with 'No Borders, No Barriers, and NoLimits.' And we are making it happen," said Michael J. Mahoney,Viatel's chairman, president and chief executive officer."Throughout our build of the Circe Pan-European Network -- ouradvanced, cross-border, dense-fiber, broadband network -- we havesaid that what we are doing is revolutionary. We certainlydemonstrated this assertion by revolutionizing the way bandwidthis priced. Now, we and Destia are demonstrating it again byrevolutionizing the way voice services are priced. 'What's next?'one might ask. Well, data and other bandwidth-intensive services,of course." The "One World, One Rate" Club includes both "1+" or "1xxx"direct dial calling from a member's business or home and callsmade with the "One World, One Rate" Club card from any phone inover 60 countries to any phone within the "plan" network. Phonecard calls will be subject to an additional standard per callconnection fee. Club subscribers may choose from three membership levels.Silver membership is $25 monthly and entitles the member to 1,000minutes per month at club rates; Gold membership is $50 with2,000 minutes; and Platinum membership is $100 per month andincludes 4,000 minutes. In addition, custom plans are availablefor major corporate customers with large call volumes. On August 27, 1999, Destia and Viatel announced theirintentions to merge. The merger -- to be effected via an all-stock transaction through which each share of Destia common stockis exchanged for .445 shares of Viatel common stock -- isexpected to be completed by the end of 1999. About Destia: Destia Communications, Inc. (www.destia.com) --formerly EconoPhone -- is a facilities-based provider of domesticand international telecommunications services in North Americaand nine countries in Europe. Destia provides its end-users witha variety of retail telecommunications services, includinginternational and domestic long distance, calling card andprepaid card services, carrier wholesale transmission servicesand Internet access. About Viatel: Viatel, Inc. (www.viatel.com) is a facilities-based, integrated provider of telecommunications services to avariety of end-users, including individual consumers, businessesand carriers in more than 230 countries and territoriesworldwide. It also provides high-speed, high-capacity and high-quality bandwidth to companies, carriers and Internet serviceproviders. Viatel's market focus is Western Europe where it is a licensedprovider of telecommunications services in Belgium, France,Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, theUnited Kingdom and where it currently operates among the largestpan-European broadband networks, with international gateways inNew York and London; international network operations centerslocated in Egham, England and Somerset, New Jersey; networkpoints of interconnection in over 57 European cities; a directsales force in 12 Western European cities; and indirect salesoutlets in more than 180 additional locations throughout WesternEurope. Furthermore, Viatel is investing more than $700 million in thedevelopment, construction and operation of its Circe Pan-EuropeanNetwork -- an 8,700 route kilometer, state-of-the-art, cross-border, fiber-optic network linking over 40 cities in WesternEurope. Phases One and Two of the Circe Network -- consisting ofover 3,000 route kilometers linking London in the United Kingdom;Amsterdam and Rotterdam in The Netherlands; Brussels and Antwerpin Belgium; Paris, Amiens, Nancy and Strasbourg in France; andDusseldorf, Frankfurt and Mannheim in Germany -- are in serviceand carrying commercial traffic. Certain matters discussed in this release are forward-lookingstatements that involve risks and uncertainties, includingconstruction risks and other risks detailed from time to time ineach company's registration statements and reports filed with theSecurities and Exchange Commission, including those contained intheir respective Annual Reports on Form 10-K for the year endedDecember 31, 1998. ots Original Text Service: Viatel, Inc.;Destia Communications, Inc. Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.deContact: Eli Hernandez, Manager, Public Relations, 201-226-4598,or Jacob J. Gross, Vice President, Global Marketing, 201-226-4669, both of Destia Communications; or Glenn Davidson, VicePresident, Corporate Communications & External Affairs of Viatel,212-350-9200 Web site: http://www.destia.com

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