Government of Canada Chooses Allstream for 7-Year Multi-Million Dollar Contract

Stock Symbol:  MBT

TORONTO, May 11, 2015 /CNW/ - Allstream (TO: MBT), Canada's largest all-business communications provider, is pleased to announce that The Government of Canada, through the work of Shared Services Canada (SSC), has selected the company as one of two suppliers for "GCNet WAN Services - Stream 1."  SSC's GCNet WAN will provide IP data communications services to 43 federal government departments and agencies including the RCMP, National Defence, Canada Revenue Agency and Environment Canada.

"Allstream's IP network is ready to handle the needs of customers with the most demanding network requirements," said Allstream President Michael Strople.  "We are well-known for our expertise, professionalism and commitment to Canadian business and our network security, advanced infrastructure and reliable network make us a logical choice. We are especially pleased that the Government of Canada trusts us to handle even more of their data networking."

After a rigorous qualifying process that includes meeting current and future bandwidth, security and reliability requirements, Allstream was awarded the business earlier this year. The project was established to consolidate, modernize and streamline the Government's existing 50 wide area networks into a single network service for data and Internet access.

Allstream was awarded an initial 1,000 circuits representing a little over 20 per cent of the total circuits covered by this project. Although not fully determined, the total value of the contract is expected to exceed $100M, will last through 2022, and could extend to 2025. Implementation planning and preparation is well underway and the first circuits will be deployed later this year.

For information on Shared Services Canada's mandate, please visit http://www.ssc-spc.gc.ca/index-eng.html

About Allstream 

Allstream is a Canadian leader in IP communications and the only national communications provider that works exclusively with business customers of all sizes. With nearly 600,000 customer connections, Allstream's momentum is fuelled by the knowledge, skills and entrepreneurial spirit of its employees across the country who collaborate with customers to determine their unique communications solutions needs. Supported by its more than 30,000-kilometre nationwide high-performance fibre-optic network, Allstream's broad portfolio of business solutions are built from an array of advanced communications technologies and services including a wide range of innovative, highly-scalable IP-based solutions to help organizations communicate more efficiently and profitably. Allstream takes pride in its commitment to delivering an exceptional customer experience, and has long been recognized by its technology partners for the contributions made to their businesses. Allstream is wholly-owned by Manitoba Telecom Services Inc., which is listed on the TSX (trading symbol: MBT). For information on Allstream's products and solutions, please visit www.allstream.com.

Forward-looking Statements Disclaimer

This news release includes forward-looking statements and information (collectively, the "statements") about Allstream's future financial results, performance and sales opportunities that are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions. As a consequence, actual results in the future may differ materially from any conclusion, forecast or projection in such forward-looking statements. Therefore, forward-looking statements should be considered carefully and undue reliance should not be placed on them. Examples of statements that constitute forward-looking information may be identified by words such as "believe", "expect", "project", "should", "anticipate", "could", "target", "forecast", "intend", "plan", "outlook", "see", "set", "pending", and other similar terms.

Factors that could cause anticipated opportunities and actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, matters identified in the "Material assumptions" section and the "Risks and uncertainties" section of the Company's 2014 Annual MD&A, and 2014 Annual Information Form, both of which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Please note that forward-looking statements reflect Management's expectations as at the date hereof. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

SOURCE MTS Allstream

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