AUSTIN, Texas, August 15, 2001 - David Harral has been named regional sales manager for C3 Networks, a Texas-based wholesale network service provider. Harral will lead C3’s southern region sales effort to supply interexchange carriers, competitive local exchange carriers, competitive access providers and similar businesses with high capacity network services.

Previously, Harral was with Qwest as general manager of Austin Local Broadband Services where he was responsible for planning, sales, marketing, operations and engineering for the local infrastructure. Harral has more than 20 years experience in the telecommunications businesses and has served in a variety of management positions for Broadwing Communications, IXC Communications, Wiltel, Inc. and General Telephone of the Southwest. In those positions he was responsible for sales revenues, margins and targets as well as customer retention; product management including pricing, competitive positioning and strategic planning; and development of standardized training, pricing, sales proposal processes and promotions. Harral earned his bachelor’s and master’s of business administration at Angelo State University.

“We’re excited to have David join the C3 team. He is very well known in the wholesale industry and brings a wealth of customer knowledge and creativity to the organization,” said Leo Welsh, vice president of Sales for C3 Networks.

“Additionally, David’s knowledge in product and service development for the Mexico marketplace, will be influential as we begin promoting our access to Mexico,” said Welsh.

C3 Networks, headquartered in Austin, Texas, is a regional fiber optic network company with over 5,300 route miles in the West South Central and Northeastern U.S. offering customers strategic access to key markets, national connections with affiliates and access to Mexico. C3’s network supports the bandwidth-intensive demands of leading telecommunications and other service providers by using state-of-the-art technology and SONET ring architecture. As a carrier’s carrier, C3’s high-capacity fiber optic network provides wholesale carrier-class broadband transport, including private line, optical wave, dark fiber and colocation services. C3 Networks is a wholesale network service provider under AEP Communications, the telecommunications subsidiary of American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP).