BT, TELE DANMARK AND TELENOR LAUNCH NEW TELECOM OPERATOR IN SWEDEN.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 4, 1995--BT (British Telecommunications plc), Tele Danmark and the Norwegian operator Telenor today announced that they have launched a new telecommunications operator, Telenordia, in the Swedish market.

Telenordia is owned equally by BT, Tele Danmark and Telenor and its objective is to become the leading alternative telecommunications operator in Sweden. It will invest nearly $300 million by the end of the decade of which approximately half will be in switches and network capacity. In its first year, the company expects to recruit about 100 employees.

Full regulatory clearance from the European Union has already been given, and the joint venture requires no further legal clearance from European or Swedish authorities.

Telenordia will offer global voice and data communications solutions via Concert, the company established by BT and MCI to provide a seamless global network, as well as national data communications service, corporate and public voice services.

Initially, Telenordia's main target customers will be Swedish and international companies with significant volumes of national and international telecommunications traffic, and all companies requiring advanced voice and data communications solutions.

This will include BT's current customers in the Nordic region, subsidiaries of Norwegian, Danish, UK and multinational companies with offices in Sweden.

The international data communications services offered via Concert will be supplemented by a national service incorporating Tele Danmark's Termanet, which will have 80% geographic coverage in Sweden by the year 2000. Telenordia will start its national voice service by the Fall, 1995.

Terje Thon, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Telenordia said: "With Telenordia, we are ensuring that customers in Sweden have a real choice in terms of provision of comprehensive and high quality telecommunications services, meeting their national, Nordic, and global needs. The partners in Telenordia firmly believe that by working together they are better able to meet customer needs both now and in the future."

Bo Rehn, Managing Director Telenordia, said: "Telenordia will be characterized by flexibility, sensitivity to customer needs and service.

"As a new player in the market we will provide a high quality, leading edge network infrastructure, providing cost effective communications capability to our customers, drawing on the technical expertise of its parent companies from the Nordic and international telecommunications market.

"Through Concert, Telenordia will be able to offer a larger and more sophisticated selection of international telecommunications services than any other operator in the Swedish market.

"Telenordia and its parent's presence in Norway and Denmark will enable consistent solutions across the Nordic market, which is an important benefit as half of all international telecommunications traffic in the region is between the Nordic countries."

BT has been successfully offering data services throughout Europe for five years. Last summer, through Concert, BT also began to offer combined voice and data services to business customers, providing the only single source of international end-to-end services.

CONTACT: BT Corporate Communications 

Jim Barron, 212/418-7860