Platinum Equity announced today that its portfolio company Matrix Telecom, Inc. has completed the acquisition of Global Crossing’s Small Business Group (SBG), which provides voice and data products to small- and medium-sized enterprise customers in the United States. In addition, Global Crossing and Matrix announced they have executed a long-term carrier services agreement under which Global Crossing will provide a full suite of voice, data and IP services to Matrix and its customers. SBG’s current product offering includes switched and dedicated voice services and data applications.

“The integration of Matrix and SBG is well underway and should be seamless for customers,” said Rob Joubran, chief operating officer and treasurer for Platinum Equity. “These two businesses complement one another extremely well, and combining them enhances the capabilities of both. Our top priority during the integration process is to maintain excellent service for customers of both Matrix and SBG.”

Global Crossing divested SBG after announcing it intended to de-emphasize certain non-core areas of its business, including the small- to medium-sized enterprise space. Platinum Equity, which often works with large corporations on non-core divestitures, identified the business as a strong complement to Matrix. A definitive agreement to sell SBG to Matrix was announced in March 2005.

“One of Platinum’s core strengths is our ability to grow existing portfolio companies through strategic add-on acquisitions that expand their capabilities, and the SBG acquisition is a great example of that,” said Matt Young, senior vice president for M&A at Platinum.

“We not only provided a divestiture solution to Global Crossing, which viewed the business as non-core, but we strengthened both SBG and Matrix by bringing them together,” Mr. Young said. “Moving forward, our M&A team will continue seeking additional acquisitions to further expand Matrix Telecom’s small- and medium-sized enterprise customer base.”

Rogers Communications Inc. will be participating in the Citigroup Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference being held in Phoenix, Arizona January 9 – 11, 2006. On January 9, 2006, Rogers will be presenting from 10:25 – 11:00 a.m. (MT). A live audio webcast of the presentation, as well as an on-demand replay following the presentation, will be accessible through Rogers’ Investor Relations website at http://www.rogers.com/webcast.

Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: CNSL) announced today it will present at the 16th Annual Citigroup Entertainment, Media & Telecom Conference being held at the Arizona Biltmore Resort in Phoenix, AZ on Monday, January 9, 2006, at 2:30 p.m. MT time/4:30 p.m. ET. A live webcast of management’s presentation will be accessible from the “Investor Relations” section of Consolidated’s website ( http://www.consolidated.com ). In addition, a replay of the webcast will be available.

About Consolidated
Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. is an established rural local exchange company (RLEC) providing communications services to residential and business customers in Illinois and Texas. Each of the operating companies has been operating in their local markets for over 100 years. With approximately 245,000 local access lines and over 36,000 digital subscriber lines (DSL), Consolidated Communications offers a wide range of telecommunications services, including local dial tone, custom calling features, private line services, long distance, dial-up and high-speed Internet access, carrier access, digital TV, VoIP, telephone directories and billing and collection services. Consolidated Communications is the 15th largest local telephone company in the United States.

ECtel, a leading global provider of Integrated Revenue Management(TM) (IRM(TM)) solutions, announces the closing of the previously announced acquisition of Elron Telesoft, a prominent revenue assurance solution provider. This acquisition strengthens ECtel’s position as a leading provider of IRMTM and revenue assurance solutions to communications service providers (CSPs) worldwide.

About ECtel
ECtel (NASDAQ: ECTX) is a leading global provider of Integrated Revenue Management(TM) (IRM(TM)) solutions for communications service providers. A pioneering market leader for over 15 years, ECtel offers carrier-grade solutions that enable wireline, wireless, converged and next-generation operators to fully manage their revenue and cost processes. Led by the Company’s flagship fraud management solution FraudView(R), the ECtel IRM(TM) Product Suite features a range of fraud and revenue assurance products that minimize operator revenue leakage across the operations support system (OSS) chain. ECtel serves more than 75 customers, including prominent tier-one operators, in over 50 countries. Established in 1990, ECtel maintains offices in the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific. For more information, visit http://www.ectel.com

Formula Telecom Solutions, Ltd. (LSE: FTS), a leading global provider of Billing and CRM solutions for service and content providers and the telecom industry, today announced that it ranked 54th on the 2005 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Ranking are based on percentage revenue growth over five years, from 2000-2004. FTS grew 1373 percent during this period.

“This recognition by Deloitte clearly demonstrates the growing market acceptance of FTS’ solutions. Furthermore, in the last quarter of 2005, FTS signed new deals amounting to about US$15m,” said Yair Sakov, FTS’ Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. “FTS is capitalizing on service and content providers’ moves to next generation products, while providing traditional operators with state-of-the-art solutions that address their current needs with a clear roadmap for the future.”

“Because Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA measures sustained revenue growth over five years, being one of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in EMEA is an impressive achievement,” said Eric Morgain, partner in charge of Deloitte’s Technology Fast 500 EMEA program. “Formula Telecom Solutions deserves a lot of credit for its remarkable growth.”

In addition to ranking on Deloitte’s Fast 500, FTS ranked 7th on the Israel Technology Fast 50 (http://www.fast50.co.il/), which is a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology firms in Israel. The prestigious Israel Technology Fast 50 focuses on success stories among emerging Israeli companies, with FTS continuing to be one of Israel’s strongest and more successful.

Partner Communications Company Ltd. (Nasdaq:PTNR) (TASE:PTNR) (LSE:PCCD) announces that its Deputy CEO, David Avner, takes on extra role as COO, effective immediately. In his capacity as Deputy CEO and COO, Mr. Avner will oversee the selling, marketing, technology, customer service, human resources and purchasing operations of Partner.

Since April 2005 Mr. Avner has served as Deputy CEO at Partner. In the two years prior to that, he served as Senior Vice President of Operations and Member of the Executive Management at Amdocs Limited. Previously he served at Amdocs as Group President Europe and LATAM & Member of Management. Prior to that, Mr. Avner served at Strauss Dairy Ltd. for 17 years, the last four as General Manager of the Dairy Division. He was also the General Manager of Strauss Ice Creams Ltd., and Manager of Information Systems at Strauss Dairy Ltd. Mr. Avner also served as active Director of Yotvata Dairies Subsidiary since 1998.

He holds a B.A. in Mathematics/Computer Sciences & Philosophy from Haifa University in Israel and an MBA degree from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.

Mr. Amikam Cohen, Partner’s CEO, wished Mr. Avner success in his new position.

For more information about Partner, see http://www.investors.partner.co.il

TelCove is a leading supplier of business critical telecommunications that has continued to grow since 1991. Among the expansion of the company, TelCove felt as though it was necessary to move to the next level and incorporate VoIP into their program.

“ECG was selected by TelCove to do turnkey engineering, installation, integration and remote technical support of TelCove’s Voice over IP Platform” said Ted A. Huf, TelCove VP Engineering. “ECG delivered a fully integrated and tested VoIP system in Pittsburgh and Atlanta as well as a laboratory system using Broadworks feature servers, Lucent gateways and Acme Packet Session Border Controllers.”

ECG created a project plan, incorporated the project timeline, set the engineering requirements, and developed a call routing plan for the development. ECG integrated a VoIP network into their legacy TDM network, which allowed them to maintain their current peering arrangements.

China Media Group Corporation (OTC BB: CHMD) (“CMG”) announces today that it plans to provide advertising through telecommunication devices to broaden its advertising reach. Advertising messages transmitted by SMS including interactive advertising are the new age advertising medium that will continue to grow with increasing success and consumer acceptance to location-based ads, opt-in advertising and advertisers-supported premium contents.

In November 2005, there were over 390 million mobile users in China, and they sent over 274 billion SMS messages, generating about RMB 27 billion, an increase of [40]% of messages sent over 2004. China Media Group intends tap into this growing segment to provide advertising to the masses. Mr. Con Unerkov, Chairman of China Media Group, stated, “Technology is moving so fast today we need to prepare our business for the new advertising medium. We view the convergence of telecom, media and television fast becoming a reality, and we intend to be actively developing this business segment in Greater China. We are exploring several opportunities that would provide us a platform to launch the TMT convergent services, first in the telecommunication SMS sector.”

Xinhua News Agency reported recently that by 2006, there will be over 440 million mobile users in China, an increase of about 12% compared to 2005.

Wireless Telecom Group, Inc. (AMEX Symbol: WTT) (the “Company”) announced today that its Board of Directors has approved accelerating the vesting of all unvested stock options granted by the Company. The Board believes that it is in the best interest of shareholders as it will reduce the Company’s reported compensation expense in future periods.

As a result of the vesting acceleration, options to purchase 249,000 shares of the Company’s common stock became exercisable immediately including 96,000 held by executive officers, 34,000 held by non-employee directors and 119,000 held by other employees. Based upon closing stock price on the American Stock Exchange on December 28, 2005 of $2.60, 31% of the accelerated options do not have economic value at this time.

As a result of the accelerated vesting of stock options, the Company is not expected to be required to recognize anticipated stock option expense of approximately U.S. $125,000 in 2006 and U.S. $125,000 in 2007. The Company will report the impact of the acceleration as a fourth quarter event and in its 2005 financial statements by way of pro forma footnote disclosure, as permitted under the transition guidance provided by the Financial Accounting Standards Board.

Wireless Telecom Group, Inc. is a global provider of electronic noise generation equipment in the telecommunications field. Boonton Electronics, a wholly owned subsidiary, is a leader in the manufacture of test equipment dedicated to measuring the power of RF and Microwave systems used in multiple telecommunication markets.

Microlab/FXR, a wholly owned subsidiary, is a global provider of passive microwave components including power splitters, directional couplers and filters. These products are employed as system components in commercial applications such as wireless base stations for cellular, paging and private communications, in-building wireless signal distribution, television transmitters and aircraft navigation landing systems. Microlab/FXR products are also used in military systems such as electronic countermeasures and missile guidance.

Willtek is a leading provider of solutions that enable manufacturers and operators of wireless communications devices to test mobile phones, air interface, and base stations of cellular networks. Willtek serves a base of more than 5000 customers worldwide with state-of-the-art products including testing equipment for GSM, GPRS, CDMA and WCDMA phones and wireless devices, as well as handheld spectrum analyzers.

James Q. Crowe, chief executive officer of Level 3 Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: LVLT), will make an investor presentation at the 16th Annual Citigroup Entertainment, Media and Telecommunications Conference in Phoenix, Arizona on Monday, January 9th. Mr. Crowe’s presentation is scheduled to begin at approximately 11:05 a.m. Mountain Standard time. A Web cast will be available both live and archived on Level 3’s investor relations Web site at http://www.Level3.com/582.html.

Telelogic (STO:TLOG), the leading global provider of software solutions that align advanced systems and software development with business objectives, today announced that a leading global telecommunications vendor has renewed its one-year agreement for core components of Telelogic’s Enterprise Lifecycle Management (ELM) solution, at a value of 2.0 million EUR. Under the terms of the agreement Telelogic’s solutions will be rolled out to over 4000 users, an increase in the user base compared to 2005.

The agreement includes licenses for Telelogic FOCAL POINT, in addition to licenses for Telelogic TAU for analysis, modeling, design, and code generation, and Telelogic DOORS for requirements analysis and management. FOCAL POINT’s superior decision-making capabilities convinced the customer’s product management group to standardize on it for release planning and product planning.

“Telelogic’s solutions deliver powerful benefits to companies across the entire lifecycle – from deciding what to build to designing, developing and delivering it”, said Anders Lidbeck, President and CEO of Telelogic. “Telelogic is still the first choice when world-leading telecommunications companies need solutions to deliver and succeed in today’s dynamic and competitive market.”

Thomson (Euronext Paris: 18453; NYSE: TMS) today announced the formation of a ‘Thomson-Inventel Advanced Product Development Group’ to further reinforce and accelerate the development and deployment of innovative broadband service delivery platforms and home networking solutions to its network operator and Internet Service Provider client base.

As networking possibilities expand, network operators need an increasingly broad and sophisticated range of consumer equipment to gain and hold subscribers, and complement their value-added services to expand revenues. To better address existing and, in particular, anticipate future needs, the Thomson-Inventel Advanced Product Development Group will develop cutting-edge broadband service delivery products and solutions for subsequent industrialization and commercialization by the Telecom and Home Networking Business Units of the company.

Leveraging the skills responsible for the successful launch of multiple play and fixed-mobile convergence solutions for major European operators this year, the group will be headed up by Eric Carreel, co-founder of Inventel, and consolidate all the necessary expertise around residential gateway, home networking and other broadband applications technologies within the company.

“The formation of the Thomson-Inventel Advanced Product Development Group will reinforce Thomson’s reputation as a leader in innovative technologies and creative product development and significantly enhance our ability to serve our network operator and ISP client base,” stated Bruno Fabre, Vice President, Telecoms at Thomson. Bringing together these product innovation skills will also enable us to sharpen our competitive edge and better tap the potential of this rapidly growing market,” he added.

Analysys International, a leading Internet-based business information service provider, says that the rapid development of China’s portal websites’ WAP services will challenge the dominant position of China Mobile’s Monternet in China’s WAP service industry.

Mr. Wang Jianzhou, China Mobile’s President, says that Monternet has reached the turning point after years of development. The existing business model is to operate all services on China Mobile’s platform, which has enabled operators to control the copyright form the source. But the development of WAP2.0 has provided much content to be downloaded free from the Internet, which will inevitably have an impact on their operating model. He says China Mobile will not enter the market for content providing and will continue to cooperate with CPs and SPs. China Mobile’s current principle is to maintain balance between supervision and development.

Lately, China’s portal websites, including Sina and Sohu, increased their investments on WAP websites, showing that WAP has become one of their future development focuses. Their strategy to enter the WAP service market is to attract visits from users by providing contents like news and relative information. The increasing visit volume of free WAP websites has attracted China Mobile’s attention. President Wang’s words showed that China Mobile will still adopt the semi-closed operating model for Monternet. They will surely strengthen regulations on the free WAP websites to maintain Monternet’s dominant position.

According to Analysys International’s Awtach-Mobile VAS Service, China Mobile’s strategy to strengthen regulations on free WAP services will increase the entry barrier of WAP service industry, and drive more WAP resources to concentrate on Monternet and eventually lead to their industry monopoly. However, things would not necessarily go the way China Mobile wants. As the WAP industry matures and develops, Internet based portal websites will challenge Monternet’s monopoly by leveraging market tools and propel the industry into an open developing model. Also, the interconnection between WAP and the Internet will also challenge Monternet’s monopoly.

Analysys International thinks that many market factors, including the rising of portal websites and the interconnection between WAP and the Internet, will inevitably challenge Monternet’s monopoly position. China Mobile cannot change the potential industry development demand simply by regulatory movements. Therefore, changing operation ideology and innovate business model should be critical for China Mobile to achieve the strategic transition for Monternet.

CommTel Network Solutions Australia, a value added re-seller of Nokia’s network solutions, has signed an agreement for the supply of Nokia broadband DSL solutions and related services to a new customer, Telecom Cook Islands Ltd in the Pacific, marking a new market entry for Nokia. Deliveries will begin in January 2006 and the system will be up and running during March 2006. This follows on from a similar agreement signed with Solomon Telekom in December 2004.

The Nokia D500 IP DSLAM (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer) was chosen for the provision of faster Internet access services in these Pacific islands as it delivers integrated IP functionality unlike any other IP DSLAM solution in the broadband industry. “Having initially launched Internet services in 2003, Telecom Cook Islands is now able to migrate customers from our existing ATM network to the benefits that IP provides for multimedia services,” says Robert McFadzien, Manager, Information Systems, Telecom Cook Islands.

“This represents a milestone in our sales channel structure, highlighting the effectiveness of our collaborators in offering Nokia broadband solutions. As utilities, authorities and operators move towards IP-based networks, the Nokia D500 is a perfect extension to the continuing portfolio of Nokia narrowband and Nokia microwave radio solutions,” says Alf Kysenius, Sales Director, Networks, Nokia.

The Nokia D500 is a complete IP-based multiservice access node platform for providing both quality of service and secure authentication. It supports the latest DSL standards, for example ADSL2+ G, for increased bandwidth, as well as existing ATM-based DSL services. With IP Multicasting capability and telephony utilising fixed-to-mobile convergence standards, such as SIP, the Nokia D500 provides residential homes and businesses access to video, voice and data services, on phones, PCs, TVs and mobile devices.

“Solomon Telekom is now offering fast Internet access to business customers, adding extra capacity, coverage and bandwidth to the existing network,” says Aydin Ada, Manager Information Systems, Solomon Telekom. Having supplied broadband to customers in the area such as Telecom New Zealand since 1999, Nokia has a renowned track record in carrier-class broadband and narrowband products. Nokia works together with key partners to enable broadband services for more than 50 customers across the globe, covering the European, Asia-Pacific, China, and the Americas markets.

Level 3 Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: LVLT) announced today the early participation results of its previously announced private exchange offers. As of 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on Thursday, December 22, 2005, approximately $690 million in total principal amount of old notes had been validly tendered, representing approximately 54% of the aggregate principal amount outstanding of all Level 3’s notes with a 2008 maturity and approximately 56% of the aggregate principal amount of the outstanding old notes.

The offers are scheduled to expire at 11:59 p.m., New York City time, on January 10, 2006. Old notes tendered after 5:00 p.m. New York City time, on December 22, 2005, will not receive the early participation payment. Old notes tendered pursuant to the offers may no longer be withdrawn, unless certain specified events occur. The settlement date for each exchange offer is expected to be on or about January 13, 2006. The exchange offers are being made only to qualified institutional buyers and institutional accredited investors inside the United States and to certain non-U.S. investors located outside the United States.

The new notes have not been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. Level 3 will enter into a registration rights agreement pursuant to which it will agree to file an exchange offer registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission with respect to the new notes.

Echelon Corporation (Nasdaq:ELON), the leading technology supplier for the widely-used LonWorks(R) control networking standard, today announced that STROM B-Systems, a system supplier in the utilities sector, has entered into an agreement to become a Value-Added Reseller (VAR) of Echelon’s Networked Energy Services (NES) intelligent electricity metering system. STROM, a subsidiary of SISTEMA Group, the largest consumer-oriented private sector company in Russia and the Confederation of Independent States, will connect the NES infrastructure with its integrated data collection, processing, and billing solution to provide a complete back-office infrastructure for telecom, gas, water and electricity utilities.

“Automated meter management (AMM), next generation metering solutions best exemplified by Echelon’s NES system, represent a high-growth opportunity throughout Europe, driven both by EU-wide legislation designed to open markets and improve energy efficiency and utilities’ desires to provide higher quality service at lower operating cost,” said Mirko Jelcic, CEO at STROM. “With the NES system as part of our FORIS offering, we can offer electric utilities and multi-utilities the world’s most advanced AMM system as part of a complete, off-the-shelf data collection, billing, and customer care solution.”

STROM B-Systems is a system supplier for the utilities sector. Its FORIS product family fully supports the IS/IT requirements of utilities, including data collection and management, resource inventory and monitoring, flexible rating and discounting system, billing and inter-billing, fraud detection, customer relationship management (CRM), and integration with enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.

Echelon’s NES system provides an open, bidirectional, and extensible infrastructure that enables a comprehensive range of utility applications that can bring benefits to every aspect of a utility’s operation, from metering, to customer services, to distribution operations, to value-added services. The incorporation of the NES infrastructure should allow the company to expand the capabilities of its FORIS offering to include automated networked meter management and convergent billing.

“STROM’s well-established presence in the European, Eastern European and Russian utility and IT markets brings the NES VAR program a strong and very experienced partner in these regions,” said Ken Oshman, Echelon’s chairman and CEO. “We believe that STROM’s unique, future-proof offering can help lower costs, increase efficiency, and improve customer service for utilities now and for many years to come. The addition of STROM to our NES VAR program is an important element in furthering our utilities business strategy.”

The NES Value-Added Reseller (VAR) program is designed to establish Echelon’s NES system as a global standard for intelligent metering systems by enabling companies that provide products and services to the utility industry to adopt and adapt the NES infrastructure as the basis for their end-to-end metering solutions sold under the NES Powered by Echelon(TM) branding program.