Taqua Surpasses Fiftieth Customer Mark with the Addition of Dunkerton Telephone, Martin Communications, Yucca Communications, Optelica, and SMARTcom.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

RICHARDSON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 3, 2003

Taqua, Inc., a leading provider of next-generation voice switching systems and technologies, today announced five new customers have selected Taqua's OCX next-generation class 5 switch. The five new companies represent a diverse customer and applications base, bringing Taqua's customer count to 54.

Dunkerton Telephone Cooperative of Dunkerton, Iowa is a local exchange carrier (LEC) that recently purchased Taqua's OCX to deliver next-generation telephony services to their community. Optelica Communications, Inc. and the Greensboro local municipality in Hale County, Alabama will be providing voice, video, and data services to its local community. SMARTcom and Martin Communications are two aggressive competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) that chose the OCX as the catalyst to provide differentiated next-generation telephony services to business and residential customers. Yucca Communications is a CLEC that will be using the OCX to provide dial-up capacity relief.

"Last year was a strong year for Taqua as the company shipped over 42 systems to 24 new customers," said Charlie Vogt, president and CEO of Taqua, Inc. "The pace continues to be steady this year, as the need for versatile, cost effective next-generation telephony equipment that enables new revenue opportunities is consistent across many different customer segments. Both local and competitive applications require reliable, field-proven solutions that will solve legacy telephony deficiencies, generate new revenue, while providing a logical migration path to IP communications."

Dunkerton Telephone Cooperative has replaced their legacy Mitel switch, cutting Taqua's OCX into service on May 8, 2003. Dunkerton began serving customers in 1907 as North Dunkerton Telephone Service. In 1980, the cooperative was organized and today offers a wide variety of telecommunications services including local service, long distance, dial up and DSL Internet access, and cable television services.

The Greensboro local municipality in Hale County, Alabama is delivering cutting edge services including voice, video, and data to its diverse customer base. This advanced offering has been engineered, implemented and will be operated by Optelica Communications, Inc. The OCX is the cornerstone of Optelica's voice services offering.

Yucca Communications, a CLEC and wholly owned subsidiary of Roosevelt County Rural Telephone Cooperative, purchased an OCX to provide capacity relief for their Nortel DMS-10 related to dial-up modem traffic. The OCX also establishes the foundation for a "Cap-and-Grow" application as well as provides the basis for a CLEC initiative. Yucca Communications has provided Internet and wireless services since 1984.

SMARTcom Telephone is based in McAllen, Texas and provides a full range of communications services for residential and business users in southern Texas. Martin Communications is a new, facilities based CLEC that purchased Taqua's OCX to provide residential and businesses telecommunications services for the greater Longview, Texas area.

Half of Taqua's customers are local exchange carriers, who are either capping or replacing their legacy voice switching equipment or performing out of region greenfield applications. The LEC market continues to gain momentum because of the high cost of upgrading and operating legacy switching systems. The other half of Taqua's customer base is spread out across a combination of CLECs, Cable companies, ISPs, large enterprises, and government organizations. The greenfield market continues to be strong across a diverse set of CLEC and Cable companies, while a significant uptake in business is coming from resellers and UNE-P CLECs who are building facilities-based operations.

About Taqua, Inc.

Founded in 1998, Taqua is a market leader in next-generation telephony systems and technologies. The Company focuses on improving local (ILEC) and competitive (CLEC) exchange carrier deployment and operational costs, while delivering new and differentiated revenue generating services. Taqua offers a complete line of switching products and services, including a full-featured next-generation class 5 switch, application servers, line and trunk testing system, and an element management system. In addition, the Company offers a full suite of professional services including network design, capacity planning, as well as installation and cutover services.

Taqua and OCX are Trademarks of Taqua, Inc.