Acquisition of Farebase to Generate Expansion

Phonelink PLC
1 November 1999



                                  PHONELINK PLC

                     EXPAND INTERNET TRAVEL ACTIVITIES WITH
                         ACQUISITION OF FAREBASE LIMITED

PhoneLink plc, the electronic commerce,technology and service  provider,  has
today announced the acquisition of Farebase Limited (Farebase)for a
consideration of £400k. This has been satisfied by the issue of 1.25 million new
ordinary shares at 32p each. Application has been made to  the  London  Stock
Exchange to list the new ordinary shares issued and admission to listing  and
first dealings in the new ordinary shares is expected to occur on 4  November
1999.

Farebase specialises in the provision of Internet travel services through the
acquisition, consolidation and publishing of fares data on flights and last
minute holiday packages. It also provides such data to subscribing travel agents
via the Internet, CD and disk.

Farebase which had turnover of £576k and after tax profit of £37k in the year to
31  October 1998 is an established and highly respected travel information
content provider to over 700 retail travel agents in the UK and direct via  the
Internet. As at 31 October 1998 Farebase had net assets of £58k.

The acquisition follows the announcement in early September 1999 of the  launch
of PhoneLink's Internet Tel-Me Global Traveller service, www.telme.com, aimed at
business  and  independent travellers incorporating its  new  reward  scheme,  E
Miles. Since the launch of its Internet travel services in     September, sales
achieved have been  better than  anticipated and  have         reached an
annualised £1 million from a standing start and are continuing to grow.

The acquisition of Farebase will enable PhoneLink to broaden the content of its
own Internet service, Tel-Me Global Traveller to include charter flights and
last minute holidays and appeal to a wider consumer audience. PhoneLink plans to
integrate the two Internet services.

This new integrated service will be a strong competitor to services such as
Microsoft's Expedia, Sabre's Travelocity and Sir Bob Geldof's           
Deckchair offerings in terms of functionality and fares. In addition, unlike
most competing services, fulfilment of its Internet travel services will be via
PhoneLink's own corporate travel Subsidiary and will not rely upon third
party fulfilment.

The  acquisition of Farebase will also enable PhoneLink to promote its travel
software effectively into Farebase's extensive customer base of travel agents.

Graham Ramsey  CEO of PhoneLink plc commented 'The acquisition of Farebase
allows PhoneLink to extend its highly competitive and user friendly Internet
travel service, Tel-Me Global Traveller across both consumer and business
markets. PhoneLink's Internet service has received very favourable reviews and
we believe that the addition of  Farebase's valuable  content, in conjunction
with our E Miles reward scheme, will  offer  a unique  Internet  based travel
service and capitalise on the  early  success  of Tel-Me Global Traveller.
PhoneLink's fast growing travel software business  will also benefit
significantly from the relationship Farebase has with travel agents
and tour operators. It is our intention to become a major player in the Internet
travel market.'

Jon  Constantine  MD  of Farebase commented 'Farebase has been involved in the
travel  business  for  a number of years and we have witnessed the exponential
growth of travel booking over the Internet. Farebase believes that the  travel
market  will become the first global market to be dominated by the Internet  and
we  believe  that  we have found a credible partner in PhoneLink  plc  with the
technical and marketing resource to enable our combined service to
exploit this market.'

For further information, please contact:

PhoneLink plc
Graham Ramsey, Chief Executive        0171 240 2640
Richard Law, Finance Director         0151 608 0205
Ludgate Communications
Richard Hews                          0171 253 2252
Victoria Martin