Broadwave Submits Swedish UMTS License Application.Business Editors STOCKHOLM, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 1, 2000 Broadwave Communications is a Joint Venture consisting of five international partners who have accepted the challenge to develop a third generation open mobile network in Sweden. The Swedish broadband operator Tele1 Europe, the US mobile operator Western Wireless International Corp, the Finnish GSM/UMTS mobile group 2G/3P, the Swedish fixed line operator Rix Telecom and the Norwegian mobile Service Provider You Communication jointly own Broadwave. Broadwave intends to invest 14,7 billion SEK SEK In currencies, this is the abbreviation for the Swedish Krona. Notes: The currency market, also known as the Foreign Exchange market, is the largest financial market in the world, with a daily average volume of over US $1 trillion. over a 10-year period, which will be financed through equity, supplier credit Supplier credit Self-financing of a supplier's operations. Also the agreement of a supplier of goods or services to deferred repayment terms. and loans. Together the five partners have extensive expertise and the necessary financial strength to guarantee a rapid development for the intelligent UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) The GSM implementation of the 3G wireless phone system. Part of IMT-2000, UMTS provides service in the 2 GHz band and offers global roaming and personalized features. infrastructure. The consortium is aiming to begin construction of the network next year and access has already been secured to a large number of prepared locations where the technical equipment can be sited. In addition to the five owners, Broadwave have signed strategic partner alliances that will add substantial value to the consortium. Content and data based services in addition to voice will be the key drivers to success. Within Broadwave's framework, mobile services and solutions will be offered through a variety of brands, distribution channels and content providers, which are designed for general and designated feature terminals targeting the entire consumer (business and residential) market. Broadwave has applied in addition to UMTS for a GSM/GPRS license. The intention is to launch GSM services GSM services are a standard collection of applications and features available to mobile phone subscribers all over the world. The GSM standards are defined by the 3GPP collaboration and implemented in hardware and software by equipment manufacturers and mobile phone operators. as early as April 2001 and to lead the development of cutting-edge services into the UMTS technology. "The traditional way of looking at a mobile network is to have complete vertical integration - from network to retail distribution channels. Broadwave intends to change this paradigm by offering a service framework, not only to the owners of Broadwave, but also to Virtual Network Operators and Service Providers to sustain the open network philosophy," says Christer Palmgren Director of Mobile Services at Tele1 Europe. The consortium has extensive experience as mobile network operator and provider of data and telecommunication services, a large customer base in Sweden and the Nordics with the emphasis on the consumer (business and residential) market and a Pan-Nordic broadband network. This is expected to meet the investors' requirements as well as the license criteria of the relevant authorities. "Together we have substantial and complementary experience and expertise in developing and operating mobile, fixed, data and Internet networks. This project continues our investment programme in Europe and our expansion in the Nordic market following our highly-successful entry into Iceland in 1998," states Brad Horwitz President of Western Wireless International. "The members of the consortium will invest in the UMTS network jointly. We will be working together on services and product development. We are currently in the process of building mobile networks in Finland, which will provide invaluable experience for the Swedish roll-out. This is the first step to fulfilling our Pan-Nordic strategy," says Seppo Hanninen, Managing Director of Suomen 2G. "Our consortium consists of market players with a wide variety of leading-edge commercial and technical strengths, and this will provide us with an excellent basis from which to achieve success. I'm convinced that we will shortly be able to offer mobile services to our Customers," says Fredrik Bonde, Managing Director of Rix Telecom. "UMTS opens up a whole new market for integrated and advanced voice and content services, where opportunities are limitless. We are confident of bringing our knowledge and products from Norway to the Swedish market," explains Mikal Rohde, Managing Director of You Communication. Breakdown of share ownership Tele1 Europe and Western Wireless own the majority in the consortium with equal shares. About Tele1 Europe (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on :TEUR TEUR Thousand Euros )(Stockholm Stock Exchange The Stockholm Stock Exchange (Swedish: Stockholmsbörsen) is a stock exchange located in Stockholm, Sweden. Founded in 1863 [1] it is the primary securities exchange of the Nordic Countries. :TEUR) Tele1 Europe is a fast-growing data and telecommunications operator with operations in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. The group's business concept is to offer broadband solutions for data, telephony and the Internet to large and medium-sized business and organisations in the Nordic countries. Tele1 Europe is currently the only Nordic data and telecommunications operator investing in local access networks with broadband capacity. This construction is taking place in the nine largest cities in the Nordic countries. The access networks, which are linked together with a long-distance network, will be Europe's fastest "motorway" for data and Internet traffic Internet traffic is the flow of data around the Internet. It includes web traffic, which is the amount of that data that is related to the World Wide Web, along with the traffic from other major uses of the Internet, such as electronic mail and peer-to-peer networks. with an initial capacity for customers of up to one gigabyte. http://www.tele1europe.com About Western Wireless International Corporation (NASDAQ: WWCA WWCA Western Wireless Corporation (stock symbol) WWCA Western Washington Center for the Arts ) Western Wireless International Corporation ("WWI WWI abbr. World War I WWI World War One ") a subsidiary of Western Wireless Corporation (WWC WWC Worldwide Classroom WWC Walla Walla College (Walla Walla, WA USA) WWC World Water Council WWC Women's World Cup (soccer) WWC Workshop on Workload Characterization WWC Washington Wheat Commission ). WWC is a leading provider of wireless services in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. , serving 930,500 customers in 19 states as of June 30, 2000. It is a publicly traded company publicly traded company A company whose shares of common stock are held by the public and are available for purchase by investors. The shares of publicly traded firms are bought and sold on the organized exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. with a market capitalization Market Capitalization A measure of a public company's size. Market capitalization is the total dollar value of all outstanding shares. It's calculated by multiplying the number of shares times the current market price. This term is often referred to as market cap. of $4.0 billion. WWC's markets cover over 25 percent of the U.S. landmass land·mass n. A large unbroken area of land. landmass Noun a large continuous area of land landmass and an aggregate population of around 9 million. WWC's management team has had one of the most successful track records in the industry over the last 18 years, beginning with the founding of McCaw Cellular (now AT&T Wireless); WWC has built one of the fastest growing and best performing cellular businesses in the United States and previously led the introduction and expansion of GSM technology in the United States. In February 1999, WWC spun-off its GSM operations into a separate company, VoiceStream Wireless. WWI is a leading provider of wireless communications wireless communications System using radio-frequency, infrared, microwave, or other types of electromagnetic or acoustic waves in place of wires, cables, or fibre optics to transmit signals or data. services into international markets. Since 1996, WWI has built and launched wireless networks in Iceland, Latvia, Georgia, Croatia, Ghana and Haiti and is currently constructing nationwide cellular networks in Ireland, Cote d[acute accent acute accent n. A mark (´) indicating: a. that a vowel is close or tense, as é in French été. b. that a vowel or syllable has a high or rising pitch, as in Chinese or Ancient Greek. c. ]Ivoire and Bolivia. In total these systems are licensed to provide wireless services to over 65 million people. WWC[acute accent]s website address is www.wireless.com About 2G/3P group Suomen 2G Oy (2G) is the third countrywide GSM operator in Finland. 2G will launch a nation-wide GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) The first high-speed digital data service provided by cellular carriers that used the GSM technology. GPRS added a packet-switched channel to GSM, which uses dedicated, circuit-switched channels for voice conversations. network in January 2001. Suomen 3P Oy (3P) is a new service provider currently setting up the service portfolio based on 2,5G technology. 36 Finnish local phone companies, 20 of which run regional GSM 1800 networks, own both 2G and 3P. Besides mobile communication operations, the 3P/2G group provides services in most fields of telecommunications and data communications. The 2G/3P group is also the major partner (74 % ownership) in one of the four UMTS licence holders in Finland (Finnish 3 G Ltd.). www.suomen2g.fi About Rix Telecom AB (Goteborg List: RIXT RIXT Remote Information Exchange Terminal ) Rix Telecom is a data and telecommunications operator working on the fixed network, with the emphasis on serving private customers. In the space of a short time, a combination of marketing measures has placed Rix Telecom amongst the largest Swedish telecommunication companies in terms of the number of customers administered. Rix Telecom has its head offices in Goteborg, Sweden. www.rixtelecom.se About You Communication You Communication are a mobile service provider defining itself as a knowledge and marketing organisation. The company is offering mobile communication services and intelligent network solutions to both consumers and the business community. You Communication are developing its service portfolio based on extensive partnering and focused operations. You's website address is www.communicateyou.com ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/09/01/20000901BIT00040/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/09/01/20000901BIT00040/bit0002.pdf |
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