AP Telecom Appoints Industry Veterans to Advisory Board

NEW YORK, Aug. 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- AP Telecom, a facilities-based telecom consulting and service company specializing in emerging markets, today announced that John Hibbard, Dr. Y. Niiro, Mark Katz and Mike Rieger have been appointed to the executive advisory board.

John Hibbard, based in Sydney, Australia, joins AP Telecom with more than 40 years of experience in the telecom industry and an extensive background in engineering, technical and business operations, technical and network planning, and business planning and development. Hibbard is currently Chairman of the Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) in Hawaii as well as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hibbard Consulting Pty Ltd., a firm specializing in international telecommunications. Prior to heading his own firm, Hibbard was a Managing Director at Global Wholesale where he led a team that grew Telstra's international business to over $1 billion. Hibbard's areas of expertise include international connectivity and carrier commercial arrangements including submarine cables. He was also the founding Chairman of the Australia Japan Cable and currently President of the Pacific Telecommunications Council.

Dr. Y. Niiro, based in Tokyo, Japan, brings global experience in the telecom space to the AP Telecom Advisory Board after carrying out pioneering research and development of undersea fiber optic systems at KDD R&D Laboratories in Japan. Niiro also provided oversight of the first Trans Pacific optical fiber submarine cable. He has since planned and managed many submarine systems in Asia/Pacific. Dr. Niiro established KDD-Submarine Cable Systems Co. Ltd.  After holding that position, he was President of Tyco Telecommunications Japan. Throughout his career he has received several distinguished awards, most notably the Minister of Science and Technology Award, the Institution of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineer Award and the Japan ITU Award for contribution to the development of transoceanic optical submarine systems.

Mark Katz, based in Metro Washington DC area, joins the AP Telecom Advisory Board. He is currently the CEO of Global Telecom Solutions and has held that position since June 2009. At Global Telecom, Katz oversees strategic partnerships, mergers and acquisitions. Prior to that position, Katz was a consultant for Imagine Telecommunication in Ireland where his responsibilities included managing the company's major voice accounts and developing connections with mobile operators in order to grow their MVNO strategies throughout Europe. Katz also owned a company called Vision Telecommunications which he built and sold to Coolwave Communications in Amsterdam.

Michael Rieger joins as Chairman of the Board and is currently Vice President of Sales at TE Connectivity – SubCom. In his current position with SubCom, Rieger manages the company's Sales and Sales Operations organizations. Prior to joining TE Connectivity, Mr. Rieger held the position of Solutions Executive at IBM where he managed the Network Management Solutions business for IBM's Telecommunications and Media Business Unit. Rieger has also held the positions of Senior Software Engineer for Bellcore (now Telcordia) and Analyst for Merrill Lynch Capital Markets.

"The addition of John Hibbard, Mark Katz, Dr. Niiro and Michael Rieger brings AP Telecom a level of strategic insight, creative vision and first-class leadership that is not available elsewhere in the market today," said Denis McCarthy, COO of AP Telecom. "We look forward to welcoming these three industry leaders as we continue to execute on our vision of becoming the standard for telecom consulting, and data and voice expertise for emerging markets."

This announcement follows a string of milestone achievements AP Telecom has experienced since company launch.  Over the past eight months, the company has grown its client roster, including call centers, BPOs, and ISPs from all over the world.  The company also expanded its reach globally, growing its international customer base to provide services in all corners of the globe including Hong Kong, Indonesia, Ireland and South Africa. In addition, the company has experienced an increase in traffic, including a diverse GIG-E managed wavelength of data customer and core traffic for global low latency traffic running on the AP Telecom Network from Asia to the USA, as well as growing its live voice traffic to approximately 30 million voice minutes per month and on track for 350 million annually.

For more information on AP Telecom, including a listing of clients, product and service offerings and recent company news, visit www.APTelecom.net.

About AP Telecom:

AP Telecom is a leading facilities-based telecom consulting company and service provider specializing in global connectivity, cloud solutions and emerging market advisory-based solutions.  Launched in Q1 of 2011, AP Telecom combines superior quality, cost-competitive telecom products with strategic advisory and cloud solutions.  AP Telecom improves networks, facilitates growth, and manages change for its clients in the call center, BPO, and ISP space.  Enterprise companies who seek to expand their global reach rely on AP Telecom's comprehensive expertise and knowledge of regulatory environments, as well as its ability to provide extremely high-quality products and solutions at low cost, helping businesses achieve intelligent, sustainable growth.  AP Telecom differentiates itself through quality, integrity, and innovation across their entire suite of products and services in Emerging Markets. For more information on AP Telecom, visit www.APTelecom.net

SOURCE AP Telecom