The first phase of the network will be in place by late-1998, with the repositioning of a geo-stationary satellite leased from American Mobile Satellite Corporation of Reston, Va. The second phase will involve the construction and launch of a replacement satellite with expanded geographic and service delivery, by 2001.

ACTEL is a satellite-based telecommunications network providing sophisticated voice, data, paging, dispatch and emergency services across the entire African continent when fully operational. The service will operate through dual mode handsets, mobile units, private fixed sites, local Ku telephony loops and rural payphones. This new wireless service will enable a user to place or receive a phone call, page, fax or data transmission to or from any place in the world at affordable prices.

ACTEL, incorporated in Gibraltar, is a venture formed by the recent merger of African Telecommunications, Limited (AfriCom), led by Percy Sutton, Chairman Emeritus of Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, Gregory Brown, AfriCom founder and Prentiss Yancey, Atlanta attorney and businessman, and Elcor Holdings Limited, led by Paul Dollery, a prominent investor from the United Kingdom. ACTEL's primary investor is Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, headquartered in New York City. ACTEL plans to take its South African subsidiary, Elcor Satellites (Proprietary) Limited, public on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange in early 1998, lead-managed by Merrill Lynch, and a second offering on the NASDAQ exchange later that same year.

``Soon, for the first time, more individuals and businesses of the African nations will be able to benefit from the information age,'' said James R. Walker, ACTEL's CEO, formerly a Vice President at Lucent Technologies, Inc. and AT&T. In phase one, the satellite leased from AMSC will be repositioned from its current orbital slot at 101 degrees West (where it serves customers in the USA) to 11.5 degrees East, to provide mobile and fixed-point telephone services to businesses and individual customers in urban and rural Africa. Walker added, ``The first satellite will bring much-needed communication to mobile users and remote villages previously unreached by telephone service of any kind.'' Prior to the repositioning, AMSC's US customers will be transferred to a satellite jointly owned by AMSC and TMI.

ACTEL will sell its services initially in the southern African countries of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique and Namibia. It will market its services through and in cooperation with the local PTT's of these countries and in-country service providers. The Plessey Corporation will provide engineering, installation and maintenance services.

In the second phase, approximately two-and-one-half years later, ACTEL will expand its market territory with the launch of a new, geo-mobile satellite providing voice and data services across the entire African continent. This second satellite, Elcor 2, will allow customers to originate and receive local and international telephone calls with a lightweight, dual mode handset, and will be the first service offering of its kind to cover the entire continent of Africa. ``ACTEL's investment will contribute to continuing economic growth in Africa,'' said Percy Sutton, board chairman of the new venture. ``Communications infrastructure is the cornerstone of economic growth and social development, and the introduction of this network will provide our African customers the opportunity to participate in both regional and global economies,'' he added.

About ACTEL

Among ACTEL's management are leaders in the international telecommunications industry including CEO James R. Walker, President of Satellite Operations Ernest DeNigris, formerly AT&T Vice President and general manager for Skynet Satellite Services, CFO Michael Johnson, formerly AT&T CFO and Vice President Information Technology Group, and others from the Plessey Corporation and Cable and Wireless. Among the board members and advisors are several prominent African American and African business leaders, including Pierre M. Sutton, Chairman of Inner City Broadcasting Corporation, former Ambassador Andrew Young, former African Development Bank President Babacar N'Diaye, long time African activist and business leader, Balozi Harvey, South African based businessman, Robert Tibbs, Zimbabwean entrepreneur, Hosea Mapondera, Victor Labat, President of Labat-Anderson Consultants and Charles C. Andrews, Jr., an executive with Inner City Broadcasting Corporation. Additionally, an advisory board of prominent African business leaders, whose interests include the commercial and economic viability of Africa, is being developed. Related Links

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Washington DC - Dec 4, 1997 - The advanced Delta IV expendable rocket project moved a step closer to reality this week, as Boeing selected contractors to build the assembly facility where the big booster's common core will take shape.