Asia Netcom and Sify partner for Internet based IP Services

Business using Sify’s Tier-1 India-wide infrastructure can now get dramatically improved regional and global connections through Asia

Netcom’s superior network.NEW DELHI, October 9, 2003 – Asia Netcom, the premier pan-Asian network services provider, today announced the availability of its services into India through a partnership agreement with Sify Limited (Nasdaq National Market: SIFY), India’s leading Internet & Networks Service Provider.

This new partnership in the fast emerging space of IP VPNs, combines the world-class MPLS-powered networks of Asia Netcom and of Sify to provide superior quality and flexible solutions for all types of corporate applications. Businesses in India will now have the flexibility to connect using five Classes of Service (CoS) with seamless Service Level Agreements (SLA) that best fit their applications and needs, enabling them to converge voice, video and data traffic onto robust and cost-effective IP networks.

“Currently, no other carrier in the region offers the degree of flexibility that is available through Asia Netcom’s IP VPN solution,” said Bill Barney, Asia Netcom’s president and chief operating officer. “We look forward to teaming up with Sify to offer enhancements which will enable customers in India to optimise their network and save on resources without compromising performance quality while using the Internet.”

“We are pleased to partner with Asia Netcom in bringing the region’s top Internet backbone to India,” said George Zacharias, President and COO, Sify. “Our partnership improves the quality of IP VPN connections between India and the global Internet. Our customers will now have one-hop access to all major Internet peering points, including top content providers worldwide”.

According to To Chee Eng, Principal Analyst, Telecom at Gartner, demand for IP-VPN services is expected to grow strongly in Asia-Pacific as the end users are overcoming fears related to Quality of Service and IP-VPN security issues, due to better understanding of the technology and quantum improvements in service quality in the past year. Gartner is optimistic that the technology will become a mainstream corporate data service within the next five years.

Through this partnership, Asia Netcom and Sify will create total synergy in network coverage, performance and service quality - combining India’s leading ISP with Asia’s leading ISP backbone. Asia Netcom’s has a state-of-the-art fully meshed MPLS-TE (multi-protocol label switching -traffic engineered) native Internet network that enables both any-to-any and hub-and-spoke configurations and features full network redundancy and protection against connection failure. Sify’s similar Tier 1 MPLS enabled pan-India network with built in redundancies of oceanic cable and landing stations complements Asia Netcom’s spread across the Asia Pacific.

About Asia Netcom

Asia Netcom, organized by a consortium led by China Netcom (Hong Kong), which includes Newbridge Capital and Softbank Asia Infrastructure Fund, provides city-to-city connectivity and data communications solutions to pan-Asian and multinational enterprises, ISPs and carriers. Combining China Netcom’s vast mainland capabilities and Asia Netcom’s unparalleled pan-Asian network, Asia Netcom is positioned to be the premier provider of comprehensive broadband network services from Asia Pacific to major business markets worldwide. Asia Netcom owns and operates the first truly pan-Asian network and is the only telecommunications operator in the region that can provision Layers 1, 2 and 3 connectivity and services.