Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. Subsidiary ION Named to Receive Federal Stimulus Funds to Bring Broadband to Underserved Communities

Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATNI) reported today that its subsidiary ION Holdco, LLC ("ION”) has been named to receive a $39.7 million federal stimulus grant to fund its ION Upstate New York Rural Broadband Initiative, which involves building ten new segments of fiber-optic, middle-mile broadband infrastructure, serving more than 70 rural communities in upstate New York and parts of Pennsylvania and Vermont. ION currently owns and operates a fiber optic network across New York State. The new project will be undertaken through a public-private partnership between ION and the Development Authority of the North Country ("DANC”), a New York State public benefit corporation that owns and operates 750 miles of fiber optic network and provides wholesale telecommunications transport services to voice, video, data and wireless service providers.

The $39.7 million grant, awarded to ION by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce ("NTIA”), under it Broadband Technology Opportunities Program, will be paid over the course of the project period, which is expected to be three years. An additional $9.9 million will be invested in the project by ION and DANC.

"We are proud of the work that ION is doing to deliver reliable high speed Internet connections to people and institutions in under-served communities,” said ATN CEO Michael Prior. "It is a fact that communities with access to broadband have healthier business climates. For rural communities in upstate New York, the ION project will mean jobs, private investment and new economic opportunities.”

The ION Upstate New York Rural Broadband Initiative will enable wired and wireless last-mile service providers to make broadband more readily available to 250,000 households and 38,000 businesses, and provide much-needed investments and job creation to unserved and underserved areas of the state. The project will also enable redundant, high-capacity transport services into Vermont through multiple interconnection points between ION’s New York network and the network of Sovernet, Inc., another ATN which operates a state-wide fiber-optic network in Vermont.

Prior continued, "We want to thank the Obama Administration and NTIA for putting their faith in ION. While the company’s roots in upstate New York go back 112 years, it is leading a very important economic development mission using 21st century technology. ION has already developed and manages more than 2,200 existing miles of fiber throughout rural New York. We look forward to expanding ION’s reach and its service.”

Receipt of the funds and commencement of the project is subject to ION’s formal acceptance of the grant, which is expected early in 2010.

About Atlantic Tele-Network

Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATNI) is a telecommunications company operating high quality digital wireless, wireline, and both terrestrial and submarine fiber optic networks in North America and the Caribbean. Its principal subsidiaries include: Commnet Wireless, LLC, which provides voice and data wireless roaming services for U.S. and international carriers in rural areas throughout the United States; Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company, Limited, which is the national telephone service provider for all local, long-distance and international services, as well as a wireless service provider in Guyana; Bermuda Digital Communications Ltd., which is the leading provider of wireless voice and data services in Bermuda operating as Cellular One, and an early-stage wireless provider in Turks & Caicos through its IslandCom subsidiary; Sovernet, Inc., which provides wireline voice and data services to businesses and homes in New England and high capacity communications network transport services in New York State through its ION subsidiary; and Choice Communications, LLC, which provides wireless broadband services in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

About ION

ION is an Albany, New York based fiber network provider operating a 2,200 mile statewide redundant SONET backbone connecting over 60 rural New York State communities, and their surrounding areas, with carrier class middle-mile transport network through a multiple ring topology. ION is minority-owned by a group of twelve New York rural phone companies, and majority-owned by Vermont-based telecommunications company, Sovernet Communications, Inc., a subsidiary of ATN.

Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this release regarding the stimulus grant and the proposed project, including the acceptance of the grant and commencement and completion of the project and the expected timetable for these events, as well as the expected benefits of the project, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including: (i) the ability of ION and DANC to satisfactorily finalize the terms of grant agreement with the NTIA; (ii) the ability of ION and DANC to make the necessary amount of investments in the project under the terms of the grant; and (iii) the ability of ION and DANC to successfully partner in undertaking and completing the project. The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date hereof, and ATN disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this report.

About NTIA’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 appropriated $7.2 billion and directed the NTIA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service (RUS) to expand broadband access to unserved and underserved communities across the U.S., increase jobs, spur investments in technology and infrastructure and provide long-term economic benefits. The result is the NTIA Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) and the RUS Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP). BTOP will provide grants to fund broadband infrastructure, public computer centers and sustainable broadband adoption projects. BIP will make loans and grants for broadband infrastructure projects in rural areas. More information on these programs is available at www.broadbandusa.gov.