Esprit Telecom Selected for Exclusive National Access Code in France.

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 11, 1998--

Company Joins Elite Group of Operators That Can Offer French Customers

Network Access Using a Unique Single Digit Dialling Code

(Nasdaq: ESPRY; Easdaq:ESPR) Esprit Telecom, one of Europe's leading independent telecommunications companies, has announced that its application for a single digit "carrier pre-selection" code in France has been accepted by ART, the French telecommuniations regulator.

The much sought after code - known in France as an "E digit" - is one of the final two such numbers to be allocated by ART following the conclusion of a highly competitive application process. Esprit Telecom now joins a select group of six telecommunications companies entitled to compete on an equal basis with France Telecom, which must also use a single digit code, across the country.

"The French market, which we estimate at FFr 500 billion, is a crucial part of our pan-European network and service expansion strategy. The assignment of this elite code gives us a head start on most of our French competitors and allows us to advance our plans for offering better value telecommunications services to French businesses and, for the first time, French consumers. We have already begun extending our pan-European digital backbone network through key French cities," said David L. Oertle, chief executive of Esprit Telecom Group plc.

The single digit code, which will be either "4" or "6", will be allocated at a formal "lottery" ceremony at ART's Paris headquarters on Friday, 13 February at 5:30pm. Formal award of the code will come after Esprit Telecom's national license application is approved by the Ministry of Economy, Finance, and Industry.

Esprit Telecom France SA, one of the first independent telephone operators to compete in France, was established in September 1994 and has its headquarters in La Defense, Paris. Currently, Esprit Telecom's pan-European network has French points of presence in Paris, Lille, Strasbourg, and Lyon and offers telecommunications services to businesses in L'Ile-de-France, le Nord-Pas de Calais, l'Alsace-Lorraine, and Rhone-Alpes. The company plans to extend its network throughout France over the next eighteen months.

In December 1997, Esprit Telecom raised $300 million in a dual currency senior note offering in Europe and the United States and announced plans to significantly expand its digital fibre optic network across Europe. The first phase in this expansion, a high capacity, fully digital fibre optic link between London and Paris, began in November 1997. The cross-Channel portion of the link passes through the Channel Tunnel, which is operated by Eurotunnel. The company is currently deploying a pan-European SDH ring connecting the UK, France, The Netherlands, and Belgium. France sits at the centre of this network and is a key hub for onward connection to Germany, Spain, and the Benelux countries.

Esprit Telecom Group plc, a NASDAQ and EASDAQ quoted company, trading under the symbols "ESPRY" and "ESPR" respectively, is one of the largest independent European telecommunications service providers. Its network extends to 19 major cities in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy and Ireland. Esprit Telecom provides high quality, low cost, and customised international and national long distance telecommunications services to large and medium sized businesses. As a market leader in providing international telecommunications services, Esprit Telecom counts leading financial institutions, hotels travel service organisations, transport companies, and government organisations amongst its many customers. -0- Notes to editors: 1. The French telecommunications market is regulated by two

entities: an independent regulator called the Authorite de

regulation des telecommunications ("ART") and the Ministry of

Economy, Finance and Industry. Whereas ART is responsible for

reviewing licence applications and advising the Ministry, the

Ministry is responsible for actually granting the licenses.

2. The "E-digit" carrier select code is a single digit access code

derived from the recently introduced 10-digit French numbering

scheme where "E" represents the first digit in the national

numbering format. In order to spur competition in national and

international long distance services, ART decided in July 1997 to

allocate 7 values for the E-digit to those operators planning to

build a national network.

3. To date, five E-digits have been allocated. Cegetel (E=7),

Bouygues (E=9), Siris (E=2), Omnicom (E=5) and France Telecom

(E=8). On 9 February 1998 Esprit Telecom and Tele2 were selected

out of a pool of 7 candidates to receive the remaining two

E-digit numbers, which are 4 and 6. ART will formally allocate

the number on 13 February 1998. The E-digit numbers will then be

formally allocated by the Ministry, when it grants the respective

national telecommuniations licences. The digit "0" is the

deafault code for the local telephone carrier; "1" and "3" are

reserved for special services.

CONTACT: Esprit Telecom

Glenn Manoff, 44 (0)118 951 4010,

Email: [e-mail]