Regional Telephone Company In Southwest Pennsylvania Selects Optibase To Deliver Live TV Programming Over Telephone Lines

HTC Communications Provides High-quality TV, Internet and Telephone Services To Subscribers


HERZLIYA, Israel and MOUTAINVIEW, Calif., July 7, 2003 – Optibase, Ltd. (NASDAQ:OBAS) a provider of carrier-grade TV streaming solutions has been selected by HTC Communications, sister company of the Hickory Telephone Company, a regional telephone company serving Southwest Pennsylvania, to deliver live TV programming over telephone lines to its subscribers.

Over its existing ADSL infrastructure, HTC Communications has been offering TV services along with traditional telephony and broadband Internet access services to subscribers. HTC was seeking to expand its broadcast offerings and transmit 100 TV channels through its cooperative sourcing agreement. Offering “triple play” services gives HTC a competitive edge among the other CATV operators in the area.

HTC Communication sought a platform that would meet carrier-grade standards including redundancy and hot swap capabilities. The system had to perform high quality transcoding from a high bitrate DVB stream, to a bitrate suitable for its ADSL infrastructure, plus it had to offer the option to accommodate the migration and expansion to Windows Media in the future.

HTC Communications chose Optibase’s carrier-grade TV streaming platform – MGW 5100 – to expand its breadth of broadband services to include streaming broadcast TV over a single pair of telephone cables. A set-top-box in the customers’ premises separates the telephone, Internet and up three high-quality digital TV channels.

“As a small operator we have to watch our costs on the one hand, while looking out for the newest technology. Optibase’s carrier-grade platform met all of our stringent requirements at a competitive cost”, said Grier Adamson, CEO of HTC Communications. “Our strategy is to triple the number of our subscribers by 2005, targeting residential subscribers in growing communities of the suburban Southwestern Pennsylvania markets.”

Located in the digital head-end, a single MGW 5100 unit can transmit up to 36 video channels received from various live or pre-recorded sources. The TV content is encoded in low bitrate MPEG-2 format and transported over HTC’s Broadband ATM network. The platform is designed to support MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 and Windows Media video formats.

“We are excited to be working together with HTC Communications in delivering new broadband services to the residents of Washington County, Pennsylvania,” said Udi Shani, regional vice president of the Broadband TV Business Unit. “Optibase is committed to provide high-quality, carrier-grade solutions that will enable operators to offer integrated communication packages.”

About HTC
HTC Communications is a Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission certified Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC). HTC provides telephone, Internet connectivity and TV Services in competition with local CATV providers. HTC has overbuilt into several Verizon exchanges. For additional information please visit www.htctv.com.

About Optibase
Optibase, Ltd. (NASDAQ: OBAS) provides high-quality, cost-effective products that enable the preparation and delivery of MPEG-based digital media over broadband networks. Optibase has created a breadth of product offerings used in applications, such as: video over DSL; digital video archiving; distance learning; and business television. Headquartered in Israel, Optibase operates through its fully-owned subsidiary in Mountain View, California and offices in Europe, Japan and China. Optibase products are marketed in over 40 countries through a combination of direct sales, independent distributors, system integrators and OEM partners. For further information, please visit www.optibase.com.


This news release contains forward-looking statements concerning our marketing and operations plans. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, risks related to the evolving market for digital video, competition, our ability to manage growth and expansion, general economic conditions and other risk factors. For a more detailed discussion of these and other risks that may cause actual results to differ from the forward looking statements in this news release, please refer to Optibase’s most recent annual report, its Registration Statement on Form F-1 filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and other filings with the SEC.