American TeleSource Names John R. Fleming to Board of Directors.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 9, 2001

American TeleSource International Inc. ("ATSI") (AMEX:AI) announced today that the Company's Board of Directors has appointed John R. Fleming, 46, as the newest member of its Board of Directors.

Mr. Fleming fills the Board vacancy resulting from Robert Werner's recent resignation.

Mr. Fleming is the principal and founder of Vision Corporation, an early-stage investment company, which focuses on communications, technologies, service and hardware. He was also one of the founders and a principal of IXC Communications, where he was instrumental in IXC becoming the first exclusive carrier's carrier of digital broadband capacity.

Mr. Fleming served as the president of the international subsidiaries at IXC Communications, including MarcaTel S.A.C.V., which is based in Mexico, and Storm Communications (now known as Storm Wave Communications), which is based in London.

In 1999, Mr. Fleming was involved in the merger of IXC with Broadwing Inc. (NYSE:BRW), one of the nation's premier local communications providers, which created a powerful local and national force for offering end-to-end broadband and data solutions for businesses throughout the country.

Furthermore, through his experience and contacts within the investment community as a member of the senior management team, Mr. Fleming successfully secured the necessary funding for charting IXC's all-digital fiber network to coast-to-coast status in 1999. The network currently consists of 18,000 miles representing one of the largest fiber optic network systems in the country.

Mr. Fleming was with several network communication concerns before starting IXC in 1992. He also has sales management experience through IBM and MCI. At IBM, he helped establish the early digital telephony era with the introduction of a Ku band-based digital satellite system. He also managed the business applications of several Ku band satellite earth stations for SBS/IBM. Prior to IBM, Mr. Fleming assisted in the development of the first back-office support systems as well as early sales and marketing plans for MCI, where he started his career in 1978.

Arthur L. Smith, ATSI's chairman and chief executive officer, stated, "We are pleased to welcome John to the ATSI Board of Directors. With his industry-wide reputation and solid telecom management track record in both the domestic and international marketplace, I expect John to be a tremendous asset to us as we further strengthen ATSI as one of the niche leaders in the Latin American telecom arena."

Commenting on his appointment, Mr. Fleming stated, "My 20-plus years experience in the telecommunications industry will serve as both an internal and external resource for the management team of the company. ATSI has consummated key endeavors over the past year under tremendously difficult market conditions, which I feel separates it from other companies in the telecom sector. I look forward to my position as a director at ATSI."

Mr. Fleming has served on the board of directors of the European Competitive Telecommunications Association, Telecommunications Resellers Association and American Competitive Telecommunications Association. He is also a frequent speaker at conferences on the changing nature of communications. He is an honors graduate from The University of Texas with a bachelor's degree in Organizational Communications.

American TeleSource International Inc. is an emerging international carrier serving the rapidly expanding niche markets in and between Latin America and the United States. The Company's borderless strategy includes the deployment of a "next generation" network for more efficient and cost effective service offerings of domestic and international voice and data. ATSI has clear advantages over the competition through its corporate framework consisting of unique licenses, interconnection and service agreements, network footprint, and extensive retail distribution. ATSI's Internet software subsidiary, GlobalSCAPE Inc. (www.globalscape.com), is a leader in the development, marketing, distribution and support of award-winning Internet-based software in a broad array of categories including file management, multimedia utilities and Web site development tools.