Verestar Pulls Two More Into Its Orbit

In another transaction heavy week, the carrier-neutral communications provider acquires Publicom Corp. and Interpacket Networks.

by Roy Mark of www.internetnews.com [October 11, 2000]

Communications provider Verestar, Inc., the former ATC Teleports, Inc., is continuing its aggressive expansion with two new acquisitions following last week's buy of a Swiss satellite company.

Joining Verestar's orbit this week are Publicom Corp., a communications solutions provider to carriers, emerging carriers and corporations throughout Latin America and the Caribbean region, and InterPacket Networks, Inc., a leader in providing international Internet service providers (ISPs) high-speed, low cost satellite Internet access.

Terms of the deals were not disclosed and the acquisitions are subject to the customary governmental approvals. The addition of Publicom brings Verestar the capability to accommodate growing demand for Internet-related services in Latin America and beyond. Publicom provides solutions, including Voice over IP (VoIP), video conferencing conversion from ISDN to IP and customized engineering solutions for its customers. Verestar can now offer its customers end-to-end solutions with Publicom's remote-end expertise in equipment purchase and installation, maintenance and management.

"This is a strategic acquisition for us. It gives us a premier opportunity to scale a successful business model throughout Verestar," said David Kagan, president and chief operating officer of Verestar. "As we transition from a teleport service provider to a true network solutions provider, Publicom's expertise gives us the integrated solutions our customers are looking for. These include video conferencing, remote end equipment sales, integration and installation."

InterPacket packs them in
In addition to a sales and distribution network that offers international ISPs reliable connectivity to the U.S. backbone in over 100 countries, InterPacket's three Network Operations Centers (NOCs) in California, Europe and Asia provide its customers with 24x7 operations. The company also has third party access to over eleven geostationary satellites.

InterPacket's customer base includes ISPs that need high speed Internet backbone connectivity and value added Internet business services. Content distributors and aggregators that need to populate edge caching services around the world are also a key customer segment. InterPacket also offers corporations, universities and other enterprises, backbone connectivity and innovative ways to obtain greater value from the Internet.

"InterPacket has built a worldwide distribution network with more than 280 customers, delivering easy, turn-key connectivity and service packages like Espresso and BIZkit," said David Garrison, chairman and chief executive officer of Verestar. "InterPacket's capabilities will expand Verestar's ability to deliver globally, in almost any time zone. It's a great complement to our strong gateway asset base."

Towers across America
Verestar is a wholly owned subsidiary of American Tower Corp. (NASDAQ:AMT), and is a carrier-neutral provider of communications worldwide delivering and managing customer's mission critical communications on the ground, in space and at sea. With the Swisscom purchase, the company now owns 11 SNAPS, with an inventory of over 170 antennas. Each SNAP has direct connectivity to Tier-1 Internet service providers, with collocation services available at all major facilities.

American Tower is a developer of broadcast and wireless communications sites in North America. Including pending transactions, American Tower operates approximately 10,300 sites in the United States, Mexico and Canada, including approximately 300 broadcast tower sites. Of the 10,300 sites, approximately 9,300 are owned or leased towers and approximately 1,000 are managed and lease/sublease sites.

Based in Boston, American Tower has regional hub offices in Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco and Mexico City.

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