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Equant Announces It Has Nearly 450 Customers For Its Industry-Leading IP VPN Service; New VOIP Features Added

Announcement posted by Equant 21 Feb 2002

Announcement highlights continuing successful integration of Equant and Global One

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, 19 February 2002 Equant (NYSE: ENT) (Euronext Paris: EQU) now has 445 customers and more than 10,000 corporate sites for its flagship IP VPN service. The most recently announced customer is Alfa Laval, a leading Swedish multinational engineering company, which has signed a five-year, $10 million contract.

Equant President and CEO Didier Delepine noted the increasingly important role of IP VPNs during his presentation today at the Financial Times World Telecom Conference in London. He stated: The heart and soul of a computer is its operating system, which serves as the interpreter between the hardware and the applications.
In this sense, the IP VPN acts like an operating system, allowing corporate customers at a site anywhere to tap the power of telecom networks everywhere.

Like the other services in Equants integrated product portfolio, unveiled Oct. 10, 2001, Equant IP VPN includes the best features of the former Equant and Global One product offerings. The service, based on MPLS (Multi-protocol Label Switching) technology, now has expanded VoIP (voice over IP) features, including worldwide calling capabilities, IP video conferencing transport and call center services (rerouting of toll free, PSTN and shared cost numbers). The expanded VoIP offering follows the deployment by Equant of a new carrier-grade VoIP gatekeeper based on Hewlett-Packard/NetCentrex technology. Other new IP VPN features include a wider selection of access methods, new IP VPN plug-ins and additional contingency solutions.

Equant IP VPN is at the heart of Equants new product portfolio and plays a unique unifying role with the other services. It is fully integrated with other Equant Network Services, including remote dial access, dedicated Internet access, voice and video over IP and IPSec for IP VPN. It also integrates and underlies Equant Managed Services such as security, hosting and messaging; as well as Equant Integration Services, including application performance monitoring, consulting, project management and deployment.

Industry Analyst Comments
Mark Winther, group vice president, International Data Corporation (IDC), stated: Expanded Voice over IP features for Equant IP VPN, including worldwide calling, call center and video conferencing transport capabilities, represent an important development in the fast-growing MPLS space. Customers clearly benefit from having their IP, data and voice traffic flow securely over a quality of service-based IP core infrastructure.

According to Henning Dransfeld, senior analyst for IP services at Ovum, Ovum forecasts substantial growth in the IP VPN market and believes that a focus on quality of services and SLAs is vital to future success in this market. Voice and applications support will be a key element in a successful integrated service offering. The most successful service providers will be those that focus highly on quality of service and application support, and Equant is pursuing this strategy.

Frost & Sullivan recently recognized the No. 1 industry ranking of Equant IP VPN in its 2001 Global Marketing Strategy Award to Equant. On that occasion, David Frigstad, chairman of Frost & Sullivan, stated: The successful merger of Equant and Global One on June 29 of this year significantly strengthens Equant as a leading global competitor. Equant IP VPN, which is deployed in more than 125 countries and continues to record strong growth despite the current worldwide economic downturn, is representative of the world-class integrated product portfolio the new Equant brings to the global market.

In addition to Alfa Laval, other Equant IP VPN customers include:
Anglo-American Plc. (U.K.) A global leader in the mining and natural resources sector
APL/APL Logistics (U.S.) One of the worlds largest container transport companies
Bosal (Belgium) Leading global manufacturer/supplier of car exhaust systems
European Commission/TESTA 15-country European governmental body
Head Tyrolia Mares (Austria) Leading global manufacturer and marketer of sports equipment
McCormick (U.S.) Worlds largest spice company
Renault Spain Leading global auto manufacturer
Stolt-Nielsen Transportation Group Ltd. (U.K./U.S.) One of the worlds leading transportation service providers

About Equant IP VPN
Equant IP VPN stands at the heart of Equants new unified product portfolio, offering multinational corporations a reliable, leading-edge platform for converged services such as voice over IP. It also enables universal access to network resources for both fixed-site and mobile users. Launched in August 1999, it was the industrys first MPLS-based IP VPN solution and is the most extensively deployed such service today, with availability in more than 135 countries. Major companies worldwide are benefiting from the cost effectiveness and simplified management of Equant IP VPN, with automatic any-to-any connectivity to easily support expansion and other organizational changes.

About Equant
Equant (NYSE: ENT) (Euronext Paris: EQU) is a recognized industry leader in global IP and data services for multinational businesses, offering network, integration and managed services to global business. The network has unmatched seamless global reach, connecting key business centres in 220 countries and territories, with local support in 145 countries and territories. Building on more than 50 years of experience in data communications, Equant serves thousands of the worlds top companies. Equant, a member of the France Telecom Group, meets the diverse needs of global companies with the industrys most extensive portfolio of managed data network services. Equants 2001 revenues, on a pro forma basis, were more than $3 billion.

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This release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements related to Equant that involve risks and uncertainties. Readers are cautioned that these statements are only predictions and may differ materially from actual future results or events. Readers are referred to the documents filed by Equant with the SEC, specifically the most recent filing on Form 20-F and the submission on Form 6-K containing the shareholders circular, which identify important risk factors that could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, including, among other things, risks relating to Equants history of operating losses, the unpredictability of growth in Equants markets, Equants rapid growth, changing technology, uncertain and changing regulatory restrictions, Equants international operations, dependence on suppliers, network security issues, competition, and volatility of Equants stock price and risks relating to the combination with Global One. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to Equant on the date hereof, and Equant assumes no obligation to update such statements.