Arbinet-thexchange, Inc., the leading electronic market for trading, routing and settling communications capacity, announces the launch of PrivateExchange, a transaction management platform Members can customize to trade, route, and settle privately with their own preferred buyers or sellers.

In contrast to buying and selling anonymously in Arbinet's Exchanges, the Member maintains control of its valuable direct commercial relationships with other carriers and uses its branded PrivateExchange platform to interconnect and deliver the traffic. Arbinet's fully automated back-office provides complete call rating, reporting, settlement and credit management to all participants. The direct commercial relationship and one-to-one routing allows the PrivateExchange owner to structure deals which can include features such as volume dependant pricing or traffic swaps.

"This service allows a carrier to create its own 'exchange' and manage its pricing and agreements independently while capitalizing on simple access to Arbinet's 428 Members and the efficiencies of our advanced routing and settlement platform," says Curt Hockemeier, Arbinet President and CEO. "These carriers are now able to increase revenues by connecting to carriers they couldn't otherwise reach in an expedited manner. They can also safeguard their transactions with our settlement and credit risk underwriting capabilities."

Among the first Members using Arbinet's PrivateExchange service are Western Wireless International selling access to its Comcel mobile property in Haiti and New Horizon Technology selling Lao Telecommunications' fixed and mobile networks.

PrivateExchange provides Western Wireless International with multiple direct interconnections to select carriers with one point of contact, allowing for efficient management of each carrier relationship. Sandra Martin, Manager, International Carrier Relations for Western Wireless International comments, "We use the service to assist our current interconnects with their traffic to our Comcel Haiti property. Through our PrivateExchange, the majority of high-end carriers can send this traffic directly to our Comcel Haiti network and are able to benefit from a Tier 1 quality route with attractive pricing. This helps us eliminate false answer supervision (FAS) providers selling a route to Haiti Comcel."

Martin continues, "Additionally, the service has also allowed us to disconnect carriers at our own switch and work with them directly through our PrivateExchange, ensuring the flow of traffic to our direct routes without a negative financial impact to our bottom line. Since every Tier 1 & 2 carrier we wanted to have a relationship with was already an Arbinet Member, interconnecting on PrivateExchange took the least amount of time and effort I have experienced in my seven years of carrier relations."

New Horizon Technology, the international representative of Lao Telecommunications, is using PrivateExchange to provide Laos proper and mobile routes to a choice group of interested buyers. Nara S. Sihavong, President of New Horizon states, "Arbinet's PrivateExchange service has helped us manage profitable commercial relationships with simple back office and billing efficiency. Arbinet provides us with resources that would otherwise incur significant operational expenses."

About Arbinet

Arbinet solutions simplify the exchange of digital communications in a converging world. These include exchanges, a transaction management platform and managed services which streamline performance and improve profitability for Members.

Arbinet's 600+ Members, including all 10 of the world's 10 largest international carriers, use Arbinet's Internet based electronic platforms to buy, sell, deliver and settle transactions valued at about $500 million in 2005. These Members include fixed, mobile and VoIP carriers, ISPs and content providers from more than 60 countries who exchange voice, data, content and value added services.