Ericsson To Expand Avea's GSM Network in Turkey.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERICY) and Avea signed contracts to expand GSM radio and core networks. This network expansion increases Avea's coverage and traffic capacity, allowing the Turkish youngest operator to fulfill the needs of its increasing number of subscribers.

Tayfun Cataltepe, Avea Network Vice President, says: "Avea is continuing network investments paralel to its growth in the market thanks to Ericsson as a successful partner and sole supplier."

Jan Kemvall, General Manager of Ericsson Turkey, says: "This contract strengthen our position as end-to-end leader in the Turkish telecommunications market and confirms Ericsson as the preferred partner and primary supplier for radio-core networks and Service layer solutions to Avea in Turkey.

"We see a great potential in the Turkish mobile market, where mobile penetration rate is about 50% and operators are focusing more and more on data services," he added.

Ericsson's partnership with Avea started in 2002 when Ericsson signed an expansion agreement for the operator's GSM network in seven major Turkish cities.

Ericsson is shaping the future of Mobile and Broadband Internet communications through its continuous technology leadership. Providing innovative solutions in more than 140 countries, Ericsson is helping to create the most powerful communication companies in the world.

Read more at http://www.ericsson.com

About Avea

Avea, the Turkish company with the highest capital, aims to raise the service quality in the sector. Being "the alternative operator" that has brought the real competition to the sector, Avea offers new products and opportunities, different tariffs to different groups for the usage of both individual and corporate customers in the private and public sectors. At the same time, Avea offers many first time services with the highest quality and the most convenient prices through making use of all the advantages of the new technology and in this respect, has been the pioneer as the technology leader in the GSM sector. Avea was officially founded on February 19th, 2004 with the merge of Turk Telekom's GSM operator Aycell and Aria- Is-TIM, joint venture of Is Bank (51%) and TIM (49%).