SunRocket Strengthens Management Team; Names Telecom Vet Kevin Bennis CEO

SunRocket Strengthens Management Team; Names Telecom Vet Kevin Bennis CEO

Leadership Team Poised to Accelerate VoIP Firm's Successful Nationwide Rollout of Residential Internet Phone Service

VIENNA, Va., Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- SunRocket, the "no gotcha" Internet phone company, announced today that it has added Kevin Bennis as President and Chief Executive Officer to its senior leadership team. SunRocket Chairman and co-founder Paul Erickson said that the move "brings another accomplished industry veteran to the team, one with deep knowledge and operating experience from a variety of market sectors to help us rollout national service and lead our next stage of funding and growth."

Supplementing the deep experience of the existing SunRocket team, Bennis brings 29 years of success in the telecom and software industries, rooted in 21 years with MCI, where he was President of its Systems Integration Division, President and COO of Avantel, the company's Mexican joint venture, SVP of Consumer TeleSales/Customer Service and SVP of Business Marketing. After leaving MCI, he has held a number of other senior positions, including serving as President and CEO of Sprint Canada/Call-Net Enterprises Inc, the largest non-Bell long-distance competitor in Canada. Publicly traded, that company had more than a million residential customers, 100,000 business customers and 180,000 Internet subscribers. Earlier, Bennis was the President of Frontier Communications, leading the company's $1.9 billion integrated communications business.

"2005 is the year Internet telephony reaches mainstream America," Erickson noted. "SunRocket will be among the winners, and Kevin's leadership and experience running large, medium and early stage companies will help us scale." Erickson added that the company has already received significant venture capital funding from Nokia Venture Partners and Anthem Capital Management, and anticipates its next, more substantial round of funding in the near future.

"Since our November 2004 launch in selected test markets, we have seen remarkable response to our pioneering annual flat-fee rate of $199," said Joyce Dorris, SunRocket co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer. "Though we are in the early stages of our national rollout, SunRocket is thrilled that our commitment to eliminate hidden fees and charges as well as our dedication to making Internet phone service easy to use is resonating so powerfully in the market."

"While there are a number of companies entering the VoIP space, none is approaching the market with SunRocket's innovative model, seasoned management team, and strategic funding," said Bennis. "The remarkable momentum SunRocket has achieved in such a brief time period validates its business strategy and establishes a strong foundation for the next stage of growth."

About SunRocket

Headquartered in Vienna, Virginia, SunRocket, the "no gotcha" phone company, is bringing Internet phone service to mainstream America with the nation's first full-year, flat-rate home phone package. SunRocket is the only company to offer complete Internet phone service at an all-inclusive, bottom- line annual price of $199, with no hidden charges, termination penalties or "gotchas." SunRocket makes it easy for households with high-speed Internet access to take advantage of the incredible value and enhanced capabilities of state-of-the-art Internet telephony. Nokia Venture Partners is the lead investor in the privately-held corporation. For more information, see the company's web site at SunRocket.com.


Source: SunRocket

CONTACT: Brian Lustig of Qorvis Communications, +1-703-744-7826, for
SunRocket

Web site: http://www.sunrocket.com/


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