WEST TELECOM ACQUIRES IKON OFFICE SOLUTIONS TECHNOLOGY SERVICES DIVISION OF SALT LAKE CITY

Salt Lake City, UT--January 14, 2002 - Mountain West Telecom, Utah's largest privately held telecommunications solutions provider, has acquired the Salt Lake City division of IKON Telecommunications, a publicly held, national telecommunications systems provider.

"Understandably, we're very excited about this opportunity, and when IKON's telecommunications customers get to know us, they will be too," stated Mountain West Telecom President, Jaron Payzant. "We specialize in providing telecommunications for companies searching for a trusted partner that can give them the selection, security and reliability they need," he explained. Payzant continued by saying "With Mountain West Telecom, customers can rest assured that we'll be here for the long-run. Our 55-years in business, financial strength, and the expertise of our team all validate that promise."

Already the largest privately held telecommunications solutions provider in Utah, Mountain West Telecom has nearly tripled its total customer base with the IKON acquisition. Now with a total of approximately 5500 customers, Mountain West Telecom is among the largest public or private, telecommunications providers in Utah. "It's a very competitive marketplace. To continue to grow, you not only have to expand your customer base, you have to offer something the competition doesn't," Payzant added. "That's why, unlike other telecommunications solution providers, we not only design and install complete voice and data solutions, we are a no-risk provider that is committed to 100% customer satisfaction.

Additionally, we deliver to our customers 'best-in-class' solutions, allowing them to focus their efforts where they should be - on serving their customers." Iain Beveridge, Mountain West Telecom's Vice President of Operations, expressed that facilitating the smooth transition of IKON customers into the Mountain West fold was of prime importance in the success of the acquisition. "We're doing everything to make the change seamless for IKON's customers," Beveridge stressed. "That's why we're contacting each customer personally to assure them that their needs will be met and that they'll continue to receive the high level of customer service to which they've come to expect."

As part of the purchase agreement with IKON, Mountain West Telecom has retained a number of IKON's sales, customer service and technical staff, and will support Avaya, Panasonic, Harris/Teltronics and Broadwing product and service offerings.

Dale Zuelch, Vice President of Sales for Mountain West Telecom notes "This is an ideal opportunity for IT and Telecom Managers throughout Utah to closely examine how Mountain West Telecom's experience can help them through the difficult decisions that lie ahead when evaluating new Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) solutions." Zuelch plans several seminars in the coming year to educate the Utah business community about the benefits, and more importantly, how to protect against the inherent risks of VOIP implementations.

The fact that Mountain West Telecom is a financially strong, stable and growing company backed by a management team with over 70 years of combined experience played an integral part in IKON's decision. Another equally important factor was a common commitment to both customer satisfaction and to the employees. "IKON wanted to make sure their customers and employees would be taken care of," Payzant explained. "We offered the longevity and stability they were looking for. Aside from our people and our capabilities, they (IKON) were very impressed with our Technology Investment Protection Services (TIPS) program that protects our customers' investment and provides guaranteed response times, parts availability, free remote service, discounted aftermarket hardware pricing and labor rates," he continued.

Mountain West Telecom has the ability to provide structured cabling, carrier services, LAN/WAN connectivity, PBX and key systems, voice mail, unified messaging, VOIP Telephony and ACD, all supported by high-level specialized service teams. In addition to its new strategic partners, Mountain West Telecom currently provides products and services from Cisco, Inter-Tel, Microsoft, Mitel, Sprint, Qwest, XO and ELI.

As a family-owned, Utah-based company since it was founded in 1947, Mountain West Telecom has found a formula for success. According to Jaron Payzant, it's a formula with three very important ingredients. "World-class service, innovative products and exceptional pricing. By delivering all three, consistently, we provide our clients more productive and efficient tools for communicating with their customers."

For more information about Mountain West Telecom's new product line and enhanced services, visit the company's new Web site at mtnwesttelecom.com.

Locally-owned and operated, Mountain West Telecom provides a full range of telecommunication, data and voice network products and services to businesses in several western states, including Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Nevada. The company also has installed and manages a number of national accounts.