Oi's International Subsidiary -- GlobeNet -- Builds New Subsea Network Extension to Colombia

BOCA RATON, FL--(Marketwire - Jun 21, 2012) - Oi's international subsidiary -- GlobeNet -- a leading provider of submarine capacity, announces today it is extending its subsea network to Colombia, thus creating an express route from its future landing on Colombia's Atlantic coast to Miami, Florida - USA. As a direct extension from its existing subsea cable system connecting the USA, Venezuela, Brazil, and Bermuda, this new express route addresses increased demand for high capacity, while also providing the lowest latency route from Colombia to Brazil. This new route complements GlobeNet's existing ring-protected International capacity service to Colombia.

In addition, UNE EPM Telecomunicaciones, the largest Internet provider and a leading full-service telecom operator in Colombia, has signed a long-term agreement with GlobeNet to become the anchor tenant on the new subsea route.

This subsea extension to the GlobeNet submarine cable system is based on the latest in ultra-high capacity network architectures supporting 10Gbps/40Gbps/100Gbps DWDM technologies. The new build is scheduled for completion in 2013.

"GlobeNet continues to leverage the most innovative advancements throughout our network, as evidenced by this new subsea cable build to Colombia," states Erick W. Contag, Chief Operating Officer of GlobeNet. "We have a strong focus on serving the Latin America region and are committed to supporting Colombia's growth and development of its ICT infrastructure. Furthermore, GlobeNet is pleased to enter into a strategic agreement with UNE, Colombia's leading telecommunications operator, that is pioneering 4G/LTE and IPTV deployments in their country. UNE will benefit from unsurpassed international capacity to service their growing customer base."

"We look forward to strengthening our long-term relationship with GlobeNet as we share a vision to contribute to the positive development of Colombia," comments Marc Perret Eichmann, President of UNE EPM Telecomunicaciones. "This new subsea cable system will allow UNE to meet its aggressive broadband Internet and 4G/LTE growth projections resulting in important benefits to our customers."

With a dual ring-protected subsea architecture, GlobeNet's network today spans more than 22,000 kilometers connecting the Americas with the most advanced technology throughout all of its routes. In addition, GlobeNet was recently recognized for exceptional lowest-latency design on its existing ultra-low latency trading route from New York to Sao Paulo, Brazil by two industry award outlets, Global Telecoms Business and Network Products Guide.

For more information on GlobeNet's low latency subsea network supporting financial, multimedia, and other high capacity markets, please visit http://globenet.net/products/vertical-markets/

To view GlobeNet's complete network map, please visit http://globenet.net/network/

About GlobeNet
GlobeNet provides International capacity between North and South America over a dual ring-protected submarine cable system serving Brazil, Bermuda, Colombia, the U.S.A., and Venezuela. Covering a distance of more than 22,000 kilometers, this sophisticated submarine cable network system is fully redundant and offers the lowest latency available between the Americas. The network links cable landing stations in Tuckerton, NJ and Boca Raton, FL, USA, with cable landing stations in Fortaleza (CE) and Rio de Janeiro (RJ), Brazil, St. David's, Bermuda as well as Maiquetía (Caracas) Venezuela. GlobeNet is a wholly owned subsidiary of Brazilian full-service telecommunications provider Oi.

About Oi
Oi is a pioneer company in the provision of bundled services in Brazil. Oi offers local and long-distance voice transmission, mobile telephony, broadband and pay TV. In March 2012, the company had 70.8 million revenue generating units (RGUs). This total includes 44.1 million in personal mobile segment, 18.6 million in residential segment and 8.1 million in business/corporate segment.

For the fourth consecutive year, Oi is part of the ISE - Corporate Sustainability Index portfolio of the BM&F BOVESPA, reflecting the company's commitment to social responsibility and corporate sustainability. For the second consecutive year, Oi is also part of the IC02 -- Carbon Efficiency Index -- of the BM&F Bovespa.

About UNE
UNE EPM Telecomunicaciones is a wholly owned subsidiary of Empresas Públicas de Medellin that provides bundled services to more than 2.2 million households in Colombia, Spain and the United States. UNE is the leading provider in broadband services in Colombia with approximately one billion dollars in revenues, and a close second player in Pay TV and fixed telephony.

In June 2012 UNE launched commercial operations on the first large scale 4G/LTE network in Latin America.