GST Global: Bestel Awarded Point to Point and Point to Multipoint Licences in Mexico.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 22, 1997--GST Global Telecommunications, Inc. (VSE:GGB) is pleased to announce that its Mexican Telecommunications joint venture, Bestel, has been awarded two national point to point wireless licences and four regional point to multipoint wireless licences from the Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes ("SCT", the Mexican telecommunications authority).

The SCT's award to Bestel of the two national point to point wireless licences fall under the 23 gigahertz band. One licence is for the 100 megahertz bandwidth and the second national licence covers 56 megahertz of bandwidth. The total addressable population under the two national point to point wireless licences is approximately 88,000,000 people.

Bestel has also been granted, four regional wireless licences for point to multipoint wireless services. These four regional licences cover Regions 2,6,7 and 8 (indicated below) and allow wireless communications in sixteen of Mexico's thirty-two states with an addressable population of approximately forty five million people.

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Region 2 - consists of the States of: Sonora and Sinaloa

Region 6 - consists of the States of: Colima, Michoacan Nayarit and
part of Jalisco

Region 7 - consists of the States of: Aguacalientes, Gulanajuato, San
Luis Potosi, Zacatecas, and the remainder of Jalisco

Region 8 - consists of the States of: Guerrero, Oaxaca, Puebla,
Tlaxcala and Veracruz.

Included in these 16 states are the major cities of Guadalajara,
Acapulco, Vera Cruz, Morellia, Nogales, Puebla, Hermosillo,
Aguacalientes, San Luis Potosi, Oaxaca, Mazatlan, Guaymas, Leon,
Puerto Vallarta, and Guanajuato.

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The award of these wireless licences will enable Bestel to extend services from the 2276 kilometer fiberoptic backbone, positioning the company to compete in local communications markets covered by the four regions which it has been granted these licences.

According to Manuel Vasquez Robles, Director of Bestel, "The licenses will enable customers who otherwise might be unreachable to obtain state of the art communications services on Bestel's network." Earl Kamsky, President and CEO of GST Global Telecommunications, said that the acquisition of the licenses is another significant step in Bestel's strategy for bringing the benefits of choice to telecommunication consumers in Mexico.

The Company also wishes to announce a brokered private placement of 425,000 units at $8.50 Cdn. per unit. Each unit will consist of one common share and one half share purchase warrant exercisable for two years at $9.00. A commission of 3 percent will be paid on the placement in cash or stock upon closing.

Bestel is a joint venture between GST Mextel, which is owned by GST Global Telecommunications, Inc. (VSE:GGB) and Odetel, a company owned by Grupo Varo, and was created to develop and implement a Mexican facilities-based long-distance telecommunications company. Bestel will bring competitive telecommunications services to Mexico by targeting small and medium sized businesses and providing connectivity throughout its geographic reach. -0-

Note to Editors: The Vancouver Stock Exchange has neither approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

CONTACT: GST Global Telecommunications, Inc.

Robert Blankstein, 604/609-6677 or 888/234-4423