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Colombian National Carrier ETB Interconnects With iBasis for Global VoIP Service

Posted on: Wednesday, 8 March 2006, 09:00 CST

iBasis, Inc. (OTCBB: IBAS), the global VoIP company(TM), today announced that ETB, a national carrier and one of the most important telecommunications companies in Colombia, has interconnected with iBasis to exchange international voice traffic. The interconnection enables ETB to route international calls from Colombia to The iBasis Network(TM), as well as complete calls for iBasis over ETB's network in Colombia.

ETB benefits immediately from the large volume of traffic iBasis is able to carry to Colombia for termination, which is an important source of revenue for national carriers such as ETB. iBasis can take advantage of the added termination capacity it gains from the interconnection to grow its share of Colombia-bound international traffic from the more than 370 other carriers that are interconnected with The iBasis Network. In addition, ETB has immediate access to iBasis' global VoIP footprint, which comprises more than 1,000 direct routes in more than 100 on-net countries.

"Colombia is not only one of the largest communications markets in Latin America, it is also one of our largest destinations," said Ofer Gneezy, president and CEO of iBasis. "We are very pleased to achieve this interconnection with ETB as it is one of the most exciting and innovative carriers in the region, and its commitment to VoIP leadership within Colombia makes it a natural fit for us."

iBasis currently carries more than 18% of all international VoIP traffic and is one of the world's 10 largest carriers of international traffic(1). The exchange of traffic between the U.S. and Colombia ranks as the 12th largest international route in the world and one of the fastest growing, with more than 1.7 billion minutes exchanged in 2004, more than twice the volume in 2003, according to Telegeography 2006.

ETB joins iBasis' growing customer base of more than 390 carriers worldwide, who rely on iBasis to complete their international calls over the company's global VoIP network and to provide a reliable and growing source of inbound traffic from which they derive termination revenue.

About ETB

ETB, a publicly traded company, was founded in 1884 as the Bogota Telephone Company and remained focused on delivering high quality local telephone service to corporate and residential customers for more than a century. In 1997 the company received licenses to offer domestic and international long distance, and has maintained a fast pace of new service development ever since. ETB also offers Internet Access and Data Services, Calling Cards, Call Centers and mobile services through its participation in one of the three Mobile Companies in Colombia: OLA (ww.ola.com.co). The company has announced its intentions to be the leading provider of consumer VoIP services in Colombia and will deploy WiMax wireless broadband services in the country's largest urban and industrial centers by 2006. The company's mission is to create permanent value by providing integrated innovative communications services of the highest quality, supported by technical expertise, efficient management, and social commitment. For more information, visit ETB's web site at www.etb.com.co or via E-mail to jaimlagc@etb.com.co or maxivale@etb.com.co.

About iBasis

Founded in 1996, iBasis (OTCBB: IBAS) is a leading wholesale carrier of international long distance telephone calls and a provider of retail prepaid calling services, including the Pingo(TM) web-based offering (www.pingo.com) and disposable calling cards, which are sold through major distributors and available at retail stores throughout the U.S. iBasis customers include many of the largest telecommunications carriers in the world, including AT&T, Cable & Wireless, China Mobile, China Unicom, MCI, Sprint, Skype, and Telefonica. iBasis carried approximately 8 billion minutes of international voice over IP (VoIP) traffic in 2005, and is one of the ten largest carriers of international voice traffic in the world. For four consecutive years service providers named iBasis the best international wholesale carrier in ATLANTIC-ACM's annual International Wholesale Carrier Report Card(2). iBasis was also ranked among the fastest-growing technology companies in New England in the 2002, 2003, and 2004 Technology Fast 50 programs sponsored by Deloitte & Touche. The Company can be reached at its worldwide headquarters in Burlington, Massachusetts, USA at 781-505-7500 or on the Internet at www.ibasis.com.

iBasis, Assured Quality Routing, and Pingo are registered marks; DirectVoIP, PremiumCertified, and The iBasis Network are trademarks of iBasis, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Except for historical information, all of the expectations, plans and assumptions contained in the foregoing press release, including those relating to the company's plans to file a preliminary proxy, to apply for relisting on NASDAQ, and to purchase shares of iBasis common stocks constitute forward-looking statements under Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and involve risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, (i) the Company's ability to execute its business plan; (ii) the Company's ability to meet the listing requirements of NASDAQ, (iii) the extent of adoption of the Company's services and the timing and amount of revenue and margin generated by these services; (iv) fluctuations in the market for and pricing of these services; and (v) the other considerations described as "Risk Factors" in the Company's most recent Forms 10-K and 10-Q, and the company's other SEC filings. We have no current intention to update any forward-looking statements.

(1)Telegeography 2006 data compared with iBasis 2005 traffic volume.

(2)ATLANTIC-ACM International Wholesale Carrier Report Card - 2002, 2003, 2004, & 2005.

Source: Business Wire

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