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2003

THUS launches first national uncontended ADSL complete Internet access service for high end business users

June 18, 2003 - THUS plc, one of the UK's leading providers of voice, data, Internet and contact centre services, today announced the national availability of Demon Premier Express Gold, the first off-the-shelf Internet service that offers businesses in the UK an uncontended broadband service. The increased performance delivered by Demon Premier Express Gold is achieved by THUS allocating twenty times more backbone network capacity per customer than standard ADSL services. The nationwide launch of Demon Premier Express Gold finally delivers on the early promise of broadband by giving businesses access to the kind of affordable bandwidth that until now IT managers could only dream of.

Demon Premier Express Gold is available to customers based within 3.5km of any ADSL enabled exchanges across the UK*. Existing uncontended broadband services have only been available via five percent of the UK's 1,200 exchanges. Demon Premier Express Gold answers the business requirement for a compelling alternative to high-capacity leased lines and an affordable upgrade path from ISDN. For example, a two Mbps Demon Premier Express Gold service is currently available from THUS for £7,200 per annum. An equivalent two Mbps leased line would cost a business roughly twice this at around £14,000 per annum. Currently, a business spending £2,400 per annum on ISDN charges can get 15 times the bandwidth for only three times the cost. Unlike many other services, the Demon Premier Express Gold service costs the same no matter where in the UK you are and how much you use it providing an end to distance based prices and usage billing.

Demon Premier Express provides businesses with a number of competitive advantages over existing ADSL connections:

• Improved throughput capacity via a contention ratio of 1:1
• Delivery via THUS's state-of-the-art national network network, offering high quality of service
• Cost savings compared to traditional leased line offerings

Demon Premier Express Gold also delivers all the benefits of Demon's standard ADSL products:

• It is self-install, so customers need not pay an expensive call-out charge for an engineer.
• Transparent fixed monthly service charges provide businesses with much greater visibility of their Internet expenditure
• Real-time connectivity allows businesses to react quickly to customer enquiries and forge closer links with suppliers, enabling real-time inventory control and easier stock ordering
• High-speed data transfer via an always on, fixed cost connection provides a highly effective remote access solution for SME teleworkers
• 24x7 technical support by phone*

"Business broadband has just got serious," said Phil Male, Chief Operating Officer at THUS. "For larger organisations, the need for a more cost-effective alternative to their existing 2mb/s leased lines is the main reason for switching to broadband. Demon Express Gold customers can make a saving of more than 45% against an equivalent bandwidth Internet leased line and is ideal for those businesses who want a higher quality service than standard ADSL, but don't quite require the added expense and resilience of an Internet lease line."

"Service providers typically 'overbook' backbone network capacity, similar to the way the airline industry overbooks seats on flights. This is because customers do not tend to use their broadband connection to its full potential at the same time. As more and more users compete for scarce backbone capacity some customers will see a slow degradation in the speed of standard ADSL connections. THUS recognised early on that this would not be acceptable to high-end business users and developed Demon Premier Express Gold which comes with twenty times more backbone network capacity per customer than standard ADSL services."

*subject to terms and conditions