News Release

eAccess IPO Met with Strong Demand

2003-44

Tokyo, Japan -- On October 3rd, eAccess Limited, one of the leading broadband providers in Japan, had its Initial Public Offering for 40,000 shares priced at 180,000 yen/share, at the high end of the book-building range.


Shares of eAccess rose to 290,000 yen per share or 61% above the offering price on its first day of trading. eAccess' CEO, Dr. Sachio Semmoto said, "During our IPO roadshow, we have received extremely positive feedback from many large domestic and foreign institutional investors as reflected in our heavily oversubscribed book and the first trading day's strong share performance. We will continue to maximize the value to our shareholders by managing our growth and profitability in the future."


eAccess was established in November 1999 to capitalize on the enormous growth potential of the Japanese broadband market by providing digital subscriber line (DSL) Internet access through major Internet service providers and systems integrators in Japan. The Company has increased its subscriber base rapidly since inception and had over 1.1 million subscribers as of the end of June 2003.


In September 2001, The Carlyle Group invested $26 million though its Carlyle Asia Venture Partners I fund as the pivotal lead investor in eAccess' third private placement, along with Japan Telecom and others, and successfully capitalized the Company with a total funding of $90 million.


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