Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management Makes UMTS Letter Exchange Between Telfort and Versatel Public.

Business and High Tech editors

AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 28, 2000

Versatel Telecom International N.V. (NASDAQ:VRSA)(AEX:VRSA) today announced that the letter exchange between Telfort, Versatel and the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, that led to the end of the Dutch UMTS auctions last week, will be made public by the above mentioned Ministry. The letter has been requested by various parties under the auspices of Open Government Regulations.

Telfort's letter was sent on behalf of Telfort by their lawyer, Mr. T. Snoep of De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, last Friday, July 21 around 16.00 hours to Versatel. This was just before Versatel was about to place a bid on one of the five radio frequencies. Shortly before that, Versatel received a telephone call from the same law firm saying that a letter would be delivered and was to be solely received by the Versatel team engaged in the bidding. The letter was directed to Versatel's board members Raj Raithata and Marc van der Heijden. The former is the Chief Financial Officer and the latter has as board member the end responsibility for the UMTS-project. Van der Heijden was at that time present in the location where the Versatel's bidding decisions were being formulated in an office in Amsterdam.

The letter, which was composed in English, was sent to Versatel's lawyers and advisors. It was decided to send a brief response to De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek. The response stated that the letter was meant to influence Versatel's bidding behavior and that this was a violation of Article 7.1 and Article 7.2 of the auction regulations. Versatel further indicated that they were contemplating forwarding the letter to the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management in order for them to take the appropriate actions.

When it became clear that Telfort was not willing to disassociate themselves from the letter, Versatel decided to send the letter to the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management requesting that Telfort be disqualified from the auction. The Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management was informed on Sunday evening that a letter would be delivered to them in The Hague the next day far in advance of the beginning of Monday's auction proceedings in the Kurhaus hotel in Scheveningen.

In the appeal, composed by Prof. Mr. E.J. Dommering of Stibbe Simont Monahan Duhot, it was pointed out that Telfort's letter was particularly intimidating as it insinuated personal liability claims and witness hearings that could be started during the auction. "In summary, the letter was a clear message from Telfort to Versatel: please step out of the auction or you will be on the receiving end of a lot of bad news."

The appeal is attached as is Telfort's letter of Friday, July 21, 2000.

Versatel Telecom International N.V. (Nasdaq & AEX: VRSA) based in Amsterdam, is a rapidly growing, facilities-based, competitive local access broadband network operator focused on The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Founded in October 1995, the Company holds full telecommunications licenses in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany and has over 38,000 business customers and 1,060 employees. Versatel is currently building a broadband network that will use the latest network technologies to provide business customers with high bandwidth voice, data and Internet services. In addition to the CLEC, Versatel group includes VersaPoint, a 50/50 joint venture with US-based NorthPoint (www.northpoint.net), which is building a pan-European high-speed DSL Internet access and Versatel Internet Group, a concentration of consumer and business ISPs, portals, and hosting companies. Versatel is a publicly traded company on the Amsterdam Stock Exchanges and Nasdaq National Market under the symbol "VRSA". News and information are available at www.versatel.com.

Certain statements in this Press Release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995. Such statements are based on the current expectations of the management of Versatel International NV only, and are subject to a number of risk factors and uncertainties, including but not limited to changes in technology and market requirements, decline in demand for the company's products or services, inability to timely develop and introduce new technologies, products and services, loss of market share, pressure on pricing resulting from competition, inability to maintain certain marketing and distribution arrangements, and construction delays, which could cause the actual results or performance of the company to differ materially from those described therein. For a more detailed description of the risk factors and uncertainties affecting the company, refer to the Company's reports to be filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Note to Editors: The Versatel brand is a registered trademark of Versatel Telecom International NV.