Comtech AHA Partners with France Telecom R&D to Provide Licensed Turbo Code ASICs.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 8, 2002

Comtech AHA Corp. and Spectra Licensing Group, the North American licensing agent for France Telecom, announced today that Comtech AHA has received a license to use France Telecom's Turbo Code technologies in Comtech AHA Turbo Product Code ASICs and IP cores.

Comtech AHA (formerly known as Advanced Hardware Architectures Inc) is the industry's leading provider of integrated circuits incorporating Turbo Product Code (TPC) forward error correction technology, with their products being used in a variety of applications from satellite to wireless broadband.

"With our new Turbo Product Codes forward error correction devices now in production, Comtech AHA is well positioned to take advantage of a rebound in the communications sector," said Bill Thomson, Comtech AHA president. "We look forward to this opportunity to work with France Telecom to promote the advancement of Turbo Product Codes."

Comtech AHA's products include the AHA4540, a single chip Turbo Product Code encoder/decoder that achieves up to 155 Mbps throughput and up to 2-4 dB improvement over conventional FEC schemes, such as Reed-Solomon or convolutional codes. This increase in coding gain allows a system developer the options of increasing throughput, reducing transmitter power, increasing the range of transmission, or reducing antenna size. Other products include the AHA4501, AHA4522, and AHA4524 Turbo Product Code encoder/decoder devices supporting a range of data rates up to 36 Mbit/sec for increased performance in satellite and wireless applications.

Turbo Codes are a form of forward error correction, one of the fundamental building blocks of digital communication, which enables reliable communications with power efficiencies close to the theoretical "Shannon limit." In October 2001 France Telecom -- acting on behalf of France Telecom R&D, Telediffusion de France (TDF, a national broadcasting subsidiary of France Telecom), and Groupe des Ecoles des Telecommunications (GET), which own a number of patents and patented applications related to Turbo Codes -- began its Turbo Code Licensing Program (TCLP), establishing a single licensing scheme for virtually all communication applications. France Telecom designated Spectra Licensing Group LLC as its North American licensing agent, and TurboConcept SAS is managing the program in Europe.

"Comtech AHA's successful productization of Turbo Code ASICs is a clear validation of the flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and high level of performance of Turbo Codes," said Jean-Luc Chativat, TCLP program manager for France Telecom R&D. "We welcome Comtech AHA into the France Telecom family as a participant in the Turbo Code Licensing Program and we are pleased to see Comtech AHA have the opportunity to take advantage of the timely signing discounts."

About Comtech AHA

Comtech AHA Corp. develops and markets superior integrated circuits and intellectual property core technology for solving today's growing bandwidth and reliability challenges. Comtech AHA is located in Pullman, Wash. and is a fully owned subsidiary of Comtech Telecommunications Corp. (Nasdaq:CMTL). Comtech AHA has been setting the standard in Forward Error Correction technology for more than a decade and offers a variety of standard and custom IC solutions for the data communications industry. http://www.aha.com/

About Spectra Licensing Group

Spectra Licensing, headquartered in Rancho Bernardo, Calif., specializes in the licensing of communications technology patents. Most recently, Spectra Licensing has become the exclusive North American representative for France Telecom of the TCLP, putting licensed Turbo Code solutions into the hands of communications product developers and vendors. For more information on Spectra Licensing Group and the TCLP, please refer to http://www.spectralicensing.com/.

About France Telecom

France Telecom is one of the world's leading telecommunications carriers, with over 86 million customers on the five continents (220 countries and territories) and consolidated operating revenues of 33.7 billion Euros for 2000 (20.4 billion at June 30, 2001). Through its major international brands, including Orange, Wanadoo, Equant, and GlobeCast, France Telecom provides businesses, consumers and other carriers with a complete portfolio of solutions that spans local, long-distance and international telephony, wireless, Internet, multimedia, data, broadcast and cable TV services. France Telecom (NYSE:FTE) is listed on the Paris and New York stock exchanges.

France Telecom R&D, the France Telecom group's research and development center, drives innovation for all group units in France and worldwide. The center anticipates technological revolutions and paradigm shifts in usage. The center focuses on innovation that provides customers with best-in-class communications solutions, paving the way for technologies that will become ubiquitous in the future. The performance of France Telecom R&D makes it Europe' s leading telecom research and development center. For more information on France Telecom's Turbo Code Licensing Program, visit http://www.turbocodes.info/.