Alexander Resources Acquires 25% Equity Interest In Comesanet Mauritius Limited.

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 19, 1998 The company is pleased to announce that Alexander Resources International Inc. has acquired a 25% equity interest in COMESAnet (Mauritius) Limited.

COMESAnet Limited is sponsored by the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank commonly known as the PTA Bank. COMESAnet entails the establishment of a privately owned telecommunications data network throughout the COMESA region.

COMESA stands for the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, which evolved, from the Preferential Trade Area Treaty of 1981. The COMESA region covers 23 countries in southern and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 385 million. The main objectives of COMESA is "the promotion of co-operation and development in all fields of economic activity, particularly in trade, customs, transportation, communications, agriculture, natural resources and monetary reform with the overall aim of raising the standard of living of its people, of fostering closer relations amongst member states and of contributing to the progress and development of African countries.".

The PTA bank was founded by certain COMESA countries to make the member states economically compatible and to promote trade and development. The shareholders of the PTA bank are Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the African Development Bank.

COMESAnet will provide a reliable and cost effective data and voice network among institutions in the region.

The Wide Area Network will effectively enhance the region capacity for the electronic transmissions of information nationally, regionally and globally. Users of the network will include central banks, commercial banks, brokerage firms, stock exchanges, retail stores, Custom Departments, Immigration Department, Academic Institutions, hospitals, and law enforcement agencies.

The countries in which the network will be initially installed are Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

The network will utilise satellite transmission technology in which reliability has routinely been recorded at 99% and has the ability to interface with wireless technology and local loops. Accordingly COMESAnet will implement Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) technology which is inexpensive, efficient, reliable and has the capacity to interface with the technologies currently used by COMESA member states.

The total capital expenditure over the initial project period is USD 7,000,000 with estimated gross revenues in the same period of USD 12,000,000.

The shareholders of COMESAnet Limited are Oceania Limited London with 40%, the PTA Bank with 30%, Alexander Resources International Inc. with 25% and Glotel Limited with 5%.

Alexander's CEO Harry Corrigan envisages COMESAnet to be the "backbone of future telecommunication projects in the COMESA region."

NOTE TO EDITORS: The Alberta Stock exchange neither approves nor disapproves of this news release.

FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD ------------------ DONALD O'SULLIVAN EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN