July 3, 2001

Fusion Gains More Than 500,000 Subscribers in Just 3 Months of Operation
New VPN Test Service also Inaugurated

In the three months since the inauguration of Fusion's long-distance and international telephone service and Internet connection service on April 1, 518,000 lines have been subscribed to (as of June 30), exceeding projections. Even before these services became available, 150,000 line subscriptions had been received, with an additional 360,000 contracted in the first month of service availability. It is clear that many consumers appreciate Fusion's easy-to-understand fee schedule: 20 yen per 3 minutes, nationwide.

Most recently, Fusion has inaugurated testing of a new VPN (Virtual Private Network) service, which connects branch offices of a corporation. Based on this testing, Fusion plans to verify the functionality of IP-VPN, which is grounded in a new process based on the Fusion IP Network. This is part of the ongoing shift from existing VPN services, which are based on ATM/frame relay, to next-generation IP-VPN. At the beginning of 2002 Fusion aims to make available services that have enhanced functionality compared to currently available IP-VPN services and that reduce the costs and maintenance loads for users.

Inaugurating data services as well as telephone services based on a simple IP network is the first step toward making available next-generation telecommunications services that fuse Fusion's voice and data functionality. Fusion will continue to provide inexpensive, easy-to-use, and unique telecommunications services in the coming months and years.