Teligent brings National Technology Scholars Program to Dallas; 'Smart Way to Educate' Offers Scholarships and Internships to Eastfield College Students.

Business Editors/Hi-Tech Writers

VIENNA, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 16, 2000

Teligent, a global leader in broadband communications, today announced a local partnership program with Eastfield College to help address the critical need for high-tech workers in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex area.

The partnership, called Teligent Technology Scholars - The Smart Way to Educate(TM), is part of a national initiative that offers select community colleges throughout the United States a comprehensive program intended to help students meet the employment challenges of today's technology environment.

The program includes full-year scholarships, internships, equipment donations, technology seminars and, most importantly, Teligent executives who serve as technology mentors and curricula advisers.

The Eastfield partnership was announced at a kickoff event held today at Teligent's local sales office and digital switching facility at the Dallas Infomart. At the event, Teligent Chief Technology Officer Hamid Akhavan presented the "Teligent Ten" scholarships to Eastfield College President Dr. Rodger Pool.

More than 30 students representing Eastfield College and South Garland and Rockwall High Schools along with 10 faculty members from the three schools attended today's ceremony. Also speaking at the event were State Senator David Cain (D-Dallas) and Teligent Sales Vice President for Texas, Steven White.

"Teligent is investing in education at the community college level to attract qualified workers to careers in the communications and technology fields," Akhavan said. "The Teligent Technology Scholars program will help equip Eastfield students with the technical training that high-tech companies such as Teligent want and need.

"This partnership illustrates Teligent's commitment to closing the technological divide and help place students on the right high-tech track from day one."

The Teligent scholarships will fund a full-year of tuition, books and supplies for ten students enrolled in the telecommunications or information technology tracks at Eastfield College in Mesquite. As part of Teligent's hands-on approach to train and recruit qualified workers to the company, the scholarships include a full-time paid internship for these students during the summer semester of 2001.

"Eastfield College is pleased about this new partnership. Teligent's support and resources will offer Eastfield students an opportunity to enter the competitive, high-tech job market with a training advantage," said Dr. Pool, Eastfield's president.

Reports from the Texas Governor's Science and Technology Council show a current shortage of technology workers throughout the state totaling between 26,000 and 34,000 people.

"Nearly half of those jobs are right in the Metroplex, according to some estimates," said State Sen. Cain. "The business/academic partnership that is being demonstrated here today represents a strong step in closing that job skills gap and I for one am thankful. I also find it commendable that Teligent is not just writing a check - or ten checks, as is the case here - it's also committing time to mentor the students and advise the college, as well as provide equipment."

Teligent Technology Scholars - The Smart Way to Educate offers Teligent a way to stimulate interest in the fields of communications and technology, as well as provide a hands-on approach to train and recruit qualified workers. Teligent launched the program in Northern Virginia in March and intends to roll out this program in additional markets later this year.

"This is the beginning of a great partnership between Teligent and Eastfield. We're excited for the students in our district who are going to benefit from the scholarships," added Dr. Robert Aguero, Vice Chancellor of Dallas County Community College District.

Following the ceremony, the students participated in a Teligent Technology Day which included an overview of the communications industry and fixed wireless broadband technology; discussions about career options available in information technology applications, information technology operations, engineering and radio frequency planning.

The students were also provided with a tour of Teligent's switch facility.

About Teligent's broadband networks 

Teligent's local communications networks represent the marriage of the latest advances in high-frequency microwave technology with traditional broadband wireline equipment. The integration of these technologies enables Teligent to increase its local network efficiency and significantly lower network costs.

Teligent delivers fixed wireless services by installing small antennas on the roofs of customer buildings. When a customer makes a telephone call or accesses the Internet, the voice, data or video signals travel over the building's internal wiring to the rooftop antenna.

These signals are then digitized and transmitted to a "base station" antenna on another building, usually less than three miles away.

Each base station antenna gathers signals from a cluster of surrounding customer buildings, aggregates the signals and then routes them to a broadband switching center. At the switching center, ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) switches and data routers distribute the traffic to other networks, such as public circuit-switched voice networks, packet-switched Internet and private data networks.

About Teligent

Based in Vienna, Va., Teligent, Inc. (NASDAQ: TGNT) is a global leader in broadband communications offering business customers local, long distance, high-speed data and dedicated Internet services over its digital SmartWave local networks in 40 major markets throughout the United States.

The company is working with international partners to extend its reach into Europe, Asia and Latin America. Teligent's offerings of regulated services are subject to all applicable regulatory and tariff approvals. For more information, visit the Teligent website at: www.teligent.com

Teligent, The Smart Way to Communicate and The Smart Way to Educate are the exclusive trademarks of Teligent, Inc.

Except for any historical information, the matters discussed in this press release contain forward-looking statements that reflect the company's current views regarding future events. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could affect the company's growth, operations, markets, products and services. The company cannot be sure that any of its expectations will be realized.

Factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievement to differ materially from those contemplated by its forward looking statements include, without limitation: 1) The company's pace of entry into new markets; 2) The time and expense required to build the company's planned network and ISP infrastructure; 3) The impact of changes in telecommunications laws and regulations; 4) General economic and competitive conditions; 5) Technological developments; 6) Other factors discussed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.