ICON Financial Advisory Services, LLC Announces Investment Opinion on Telecommunications Industry.

Business Editors

NOTE TO EDITORS: The following is an investment opinion issued

by ICON Financial Advisory Services, LLC 

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 9, 2001

Global Productivity and Financial Fundamentals for

Telecommunications Industry Released by IFAS 

ICON Financial Advisory Services, LLC today released international competitive benchmarks for the TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY.

According to Aaron Freeman, President of IFAS, "We created these reports in response to two inescapable trends: a return to fundamentals and globalization." Drawing on the expertise of Professor Philip M. Parker of INSEAD, IFAS has benchmarked each company in the telecommunications industry against other firms operating in this sector worldwide. The results are two specialized reports: (1) global financial benchmarks using common-size statement ratios (vertical analysis), and (2) labor-productivity and utilization measures collected across borders.

Freeman notes, "We are intrigued by the wide variations in basic financial and productivity measures across the world. The quick ratio, for example, varied from 0.20 to 6.20."

Coverage & Methodology

In the most comprehensive ratio and productivity analysis to date on the global telecommunications industry, IFAS pools statistics on tens of thousands of companies across over 40 countries and applies a seven-stage methodology: (1) identification of industry classifications, (2) firm-level data collection and aggregation, (3) standardization of raw statistics, (4) filtering outliers, (5) calculation of global norms, (6) projection of deviations, and (7) projection of ranks and percentiles.

Two reports have been published for each company included in the global analysis. In some 100 pages, each company's productivity and industry rank are revealed. Analyzed companies include: Hickory Tech Corporation (NAS: HTCO), General Communication Inc. (NAS: GNCMA), Alaska Communication System Group Inc. (NAS: ALSK), Wireless Facilities Inc. (NAS: WFII), CT Communications Inc. (NAS: CTCI) plus 310 other companies in this sector.

About IFAS

IFAS assists managers with global benchmarking and productivity studies. Customized reports are available where clients select from over 20,000 companies. IFAS, LLC; 4370 La Jolla Village Drive, F4; San Diego, CA 92122, Tel: [phone], Fax: [phone]; E-mail: [e-mail].

CONTACT: Aaron Freeman Tel: [phone] Fax: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail]