Eduardo Menasce to head CTI in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- The Board of Directors of CTI Compania de Telefonos del Interior S.A. and CTI Norte Compania de Telefonos del Interior S.A., (CTI), today announced the election of Eduardo Menasce as chief executive officer and president of CTI, effective immediately.

CTI provides cellular service to the interior of Argentina, serving a potential population of some 22 million people. CTI is a consortium consisting of GTE, Clarin Group, Lucent and others.

Menasce, who had been general manager and chief operating officer of Compania Anonima Nacional de Telefonos de Venezuela (CANTV), operated by a consortium led by GTE, succeeds Gustavo Prilick, who resigned to pursue other interests.

"With some 20 years' experience with GTE in managing

consumer-oriented businesses in Brazil, France and Venezuela, Eduardo Menasce is the right person at the right time to lead CTI," said Bruce E. Haddad, senior vice president International-Latin America for GTE. "Eduardo helped guide significant operational and financial improvements at CANTV and understands well the need for a customer focus coupled with a strong financial orientation. He has achieved considerable success in competitive international environments, and supports CTI's and GTE's commitment to profitable growth that will benefit customers, employees and investors. Eduardo is a proven winner, and we now have the opportunity to leverage his expertise in a competitive business in his native Argentina," Haddad added.

"I also want to thank Gustavo Prilick for his creative and energetic contributions to CTI," Haddad said. "Over the last two years he has taken CTI from a start-up company with some 14,000 cellular customers and managed a 700 percent growth rate to over 100,000, while instituting solutions in important areas such as billing and credit management."

Eduardo Menasce

Eduardo Menasce, the new head of CTI said, "My primary objective is clear: to lead a reinvigorated sales force and marketing program that will rapidly expand our base of high-quality customers. I'm confident that the infrastructure is in place to do this and that the CTI partners are fully committed to the success of this venture. We are focused on providing the people in the interior of Argentina the convenience and mobility of cellular wireless technology and other communications solutions."

Menasce, age 51, was most recently chief operating officer of CANTV, the telephone company of Venezuela; from 1994 to 1995 he served as chief financial officer there. Among his accomplishments at CANTV, Menasce refinanced the company's debt of over $1 billion; reduced total debt by

$300 million; and, introduced a series of productivity-improvement programs that have led to a substantial reduction in CANTV's overall level of expenses, while also overseeing service and marketing activities to 2.5 million wireline and 180,000 cellular customers throughout the country.

From 1992 to 1994, Menasce was general manager of Alcatel Telecommunications in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Menasce served from 1981 to 1992 as president and then chief executive officer of GTE France lighting subsidiaries. Prior to that, he was chief financial officer and then general manager of GTE Sylvania consumer electronics and lighting in Sao Paulo. Menasce began his career as an industrial engineer in 1969, and was a management consultant with Cresap McCormick and Paget in New York, Mexico City and Sao Paulo.

Menasce graduated from Pontificia Universidade Catolica do Rio de Janeiro as an industrial engineer in 1969. He received a Masters in Business Administration from Columbia University in New York in 1973. He and his wife Anne will reside in Buenos Aires.