Esprit Telecom Signs Historic Interconnection Agreement With Belgacom.

READING, United Kingdom--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 24, 1998--

Company Expects to Become the First Independent

Telecommunications Company in Belgium to Receive

National Voice Telephony Licence

Esprit Telecom Group plc (Nasdaq: ESPRY; Easdaq: ESPR), one of Europe's leading independent telecommunications companies, today announced that it has signed an historic voice telephony "interconnection" agreement with Belgacom, the first such deal to be signed by an independent telephone company in Belgium.

The agreement, in conjunction with Esprit Telecom's impending national voice telecommunications licence, will enable the Company to offer its unique brand of high quality, low cost telecommunications services to businesses and organisations throughout Belgium. The national voice licence, which is expected to be awarded later this week by the Economics and Telecommunications Ministry, will be the first such licence awarded under Belgium's new licensing regime. Both the agreement and the licence should become effective on March 1, 1998.

"Belgium's BF168 billion ($4.5 billion) telecommunications market is a key European market due to its high concentration of international businesses and organisations, its strategic geographic position, and Esprit Telecom's commitment to offering competitive telecommunications services across the continent. We were one of the first competitive telecommunications companies to enter the Belgian market and we hope to maintain that lead now that we will be able to effectively compete here," said David L. Oertle, chief executive at Esprit Telecom.

In October 1997, Esprit Telecom received a four digit national carrier select code, 1680. The interconnection agreement with Belgacom will allow customers to begin using the 1680 code - which enables customers to access Esprit Telecom's pan-European digital fibre optic over Belgacom's national access network - for the first time. For most customers, access to the Esprit Telecom network will be transparent because the four-digit code can be automatically programmed into their PBX.

"Since 1995, large customers like Hilton Hotels, the Conrad Hotel and Regus have been using Esprit Telecom because we offer superior customer service levels and lower cost telecommunications services. Now we will be able to extend that offer to businesses and organisations of all sizes across Belgium," said Geert de Westelink, director of sales at Esprit Telecom's Belgian office in Brussels.

About The Company

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. Esprit Telecom filed a provisional voice telephony licence

application on 3 February 1997 pursuant to the rules and

procedures established in a government circular in December 1997

for voice telephony and public network operator licence

applications. Under these rules and procedures, the Belgian

regulator "BIPT" will review voice telephony and public network

operator licence applications and then, when satisfied, will

forward these applications to the Ministry of Economics and

Telecommunications for signature and formal grant. 2. The provisional voice telephony licence will be superseded by a

"definitive" voice telephony licence when the applicable

telecommunications legislation is adopted by the Belgian

government sometime during the Spring. 3. Based on its interconnection agreement with Belgacom and under the

general terms of the expected provisional licence, Esprit should

be authorised to begin offering services to the public on 1 March

1998. 4. The interconnection agreement will entitle Esprit Telecom to

interconnect its network with Belgacom's national network, which,

in turn, will allow the Company to originate its customer's calls

on Belgacom's existing network while using its own high speed

digital backbone network for the carriage of calls nationally and

internationally to achieve cost reductions and quality

improvements. 5. The Company's interconnection agreement with Belgacom will be the

first such agreement based on Belgacom's second reference

interconnection offer ("BRIO-2"). This reference interconnect

offer will entitle Esprit Telecom to terminate and originate calls

on the ubiquitous Belgacom public network on the basis of

cost-oriented tariffs. Belgacom's first reference interconnect

offer ("BRIO-1") provides for further cost-orientation as

regards interconnection tariffs and is available only to companies

holding a public network operator licence (i.e., facilities

authority).

Further information about Esprit Telecom is also available on the Internet at: http://www.esprittele.com -0-

NOTE: The hyphen (-) used in "BRIO-2" and "BRIO-1" were used

instead of the pound sign for transmission reasons.

CONTACT: Esprit Telecom Group plc

Glenn Manoff, 44 (0) 118 951 4010