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2003

THUS plc, one of the UK's leading providers of voice, networking, Internet and contact centre services, today announced that it has won the contract to provide Capital Radio PLC with a broadband network which will enable real-time distribution of live and pre-recorded audio content across the network as well as a webstreaming platform. The new network will deliver cost effective live broadcasts from any Capital Radio location, enabling stations to broadcast high quality content, such as celebrity interviews with stars they would not normally have access to.

Capital Radio's national network of stations will now be able to share innovative, high quality programming in a more efficient way, driving new listeners to its stations. In addition, the huge increase in bandwidth will provide Capital Radio with significant flexibility to add new sites and radio stations.

The network developed by THUS is based upon Europe's first commercial implementation of audio-over-ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) in a core network and delivers Capital a 100 times increase in bandwidth capability at a fraction of the cost of traditional networking solutions used by the broadcast industry. Capital Radio made its decision after working with THUS to develop a proof-of-concept network that rigorously tested the performance of the solution.

"The network solution developed by THUS will play a pivotal role in supporting Capital Radio's strategic objectives for the coming years, " said Paul Davies, Operations Director, Capital Radio plc. "THUS's superior technical understanding and innovative approach, together with its experience in the media sector, made it the logical choice for Capital Radio."

"THUS has developed a unique understanding of the broadcast and media industries through its work with major brands such as Capital, Sky and the BBC," said Bill Allan, Chief Executive of THUS plc. "THUS is gaining increasing recognition for its innovative approach to using proven technologies, like ATM, to develop exciting and business enhancing network solutions. THUS's application of audio-over-ATM is the latest in a long line of THUS industry firsts following our recent pioneering work with Sky to enable two-way SMS through interactive TV."

The network solution developed by THUS consists of high speed audio-over-ATM connections to 12 sites across the UK, a high speed 10Mb Internet connection to THUS's core network scalable to 622Mb, a web streaming platform that allows for thousands of concurrent streams and a 100Gb storage area network (SAN).