CoreComm to Deploy Corning(R) Optical Fiber in Fiber-to-the-Home -FTTH- Networks; FTTH Networks to be utilized in Multiple-Dwelling Unit (MDU) builds throughout United States.

Business & High Tech Editors

CORNING, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 20, 2000

Corning Incorporated today announced that it has been selected by CoreComm Limited, a NASDAQ-listed U.S. competitive telecommunications provider, to be the preferred supplier for optical fiber, cable, hardware and fiber management systems throughout CoreComm's highly advanced FTTH broadband services network. CoreComm intends to incorporate Corning's products and services in its extensive Multiple-Dwelling Unit (MDU) build-out across the United States. This is one of the first pioneering efforts to take the power of fiber optic networks directly to the home.

CoreComm plans to deploy FTTH in MDUs in U.S. cities where they currently operate, including Chicago, Cleveland, and Columbus and will be initiating service in Detroit, New York, and Boston in the next several months. CoreComm expects these initial deployments to include several thousand kilometers of Corning InfiniCor(TM) and SMF-28(TM) optical fibers and associated Corning Cable Systems fiber management systems.

Corning fiber will help optimize CoreComm's networks through greater bandwidth at deployment costs similar to typical copper-based infrastructure. These networks can provide Internet access speeds of 10 to 100 Megabits per second with further upgrades to 1 Gigabit per second. Furthermore, fiber deployment all the way to individual dwelling units will provide unsurpassed reliability and a future-proof capacity upgrade path for future digital services that is second to none.

Barclay Knapp, Chief Executive Officer of CoreComm, stated, "We are very proud that CoreComm is uniquely positioned to be the first to make the dream of fiber to the home in the U.S. a reality. Furthermore, we are extremely pleased to be partnering with an industry leading player like Corning in order to make this happen."

Knapp continued, "By constructing a `killer app' network of our own in the last mile, we can leapfrog all existing technologies for telephone and data services to the consumer. Neither cable modems nor DSL would be able to match the capability and flexibility of a multi-megabit fiber network."

In the residential access marketplace, successful service providers will need a network technology that is capable of delivering an entire suite of communications services, can be deployed and maintained at minimum cost, and is upgradable to support future digital service demands. As the data transport medium of a full service access network, Ethernet over Fiber-to-the-Home greatly improves the cost/performance of access network deployments. With data rates of 10-100 Megabits, or more, per second, carriers that implement Ethernet will enjoy enormous advantages in competition with providers of conventional cable modem and DSL technologies. Fiber and Ethernet are the most easily upgradable technologies and are best suited to support capacity demands from the onslaught of emerging and converging digital services.

"Corning is dedicated to working with industry partners like CoreComm to supply service providers with the best products and services in order to make these advantaged access networks a broad-scale reality in the years to come," noted Alan Eusden, vice president and general manager, Corning Optical Fiber.

CoreComm is an innovative communications company that provides integrated telephone, Internet and data services to business and residential customers in targeted markets throughout the United States. The company is exploiting the convergence of telecommunications and information services through a strategy which allows it to deliver a wide range of communications services over a network architecture that it designs to be capital efficient and primarily requires success-based incremental capital. The company's goal is to expand its facilities, geography and services to become a leading switch-based communications provider in selected major markets across the United States.

Established in 1851, Corning Incorporated (www.corning.com) creates leading-edge technologies for the fastest-growing markets of the world's economy. Corning manufactures optical fiber, cable and photonic products for the telecommunications industry; and high-performance displays and components for television and other communications-related industries. The company also uses advanced materials to manufacture products for scientific, semiconductor and environmental markets. Corning revenues for 1999 were $4.7 billion. More information on Corning optical fiber is available at (www.corningfiber.com).