NEWSFLASH

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UNA INKS PACT WITH PHNET

PhNet Foundation, Nov. 28, 1997 - The Philippine Network Foundation, Inc. (PHNET) and the United Network Address (UNA) entered into a strategic partnership with the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement last November 17. The agreement is expected to develop and accelerate the delivery of the Internet to the schools and government institutions throughout the Philippines at the most affordable and cost-effective price.

UNA is an affiliate of BayanTel and is the country's only purely wholesale Internet access service provider. Through economies of scale, efficient operations, and the application of the latest in technology, all characteristics of Lopez companies, UNA is able to bring the cost of Internet access to low costs never before seen in the local market. Through PHNET, UNA will be able to serve the schools and government institutions.

UNA will connect PHNET to the US Internet backbone through multi-megabit links with the first 2.0 megabit per second (E1) link scheduled for delivery before the end of November 1997. This will be the country's first high-speed, high-capacity connection to the Internet for the dedicated use of the schools and government. As the national computer communications backbone grows in size and traffic increases, the agreement calls for the additional connection of additional E1 links to ensure unhampered access to the Internet.

PHNET is the country's first and leading Internet Service Provider (ISP) with the widest Internet backbone for the schools and government institutions. It counts the country's leading schools and government units, including the Malacañang Palace, as its members. Last July, together with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), it launched the Science, Academe, and Research Network of the Philippines (RP-SARNET) with the ambitious goal of connecting 2,000 schools and government institutions to a national computer communications backbone. The project can now immediately accommodate more non-commercial members without any significant decrease in the speed of Internet access. The agreement ensures that RP-SARNET will have an adequate supply of the necessary bandwidth as the schools and government institutions connect to the Internet.

The two private companies, consider their strategic alliance to be a model of private sector involvement in support of the government's goal of global competitiveness through Information Technology.

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