Mobile Operators Face a Stark Choice - Buy or be Bought, says Analysys.

CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 2, 1999--

During 1999, leading mobile operators have committed hundreds of billions of dollars to international takeover bids (table available on request). A year that opened with Vodafone's absorption of AirTouch for USD74 billion is now closing with a Vodafone AirTouch bid in excess of USD125 billion for German operator Mannesmann.

According to Mobile Market Leaders, a new report from telecoms consultancy Analysys (www.analysys.com), this internationalization is being driven by the pressures on operators in their domestic markets, together with the perceived opportunities overseas.

Established operators in well-developed home markets are facing some difficult choices. Fierce competition continues to drive prices down as more licences are awarded and markets mature. The imperative is for new sources of revenues and profits. The attraction of overseas ventures is that less mature markets still offer good returns, while in established markets there are opportunities to add value by offering a genuinely international service.

"The pace of consolidation is picking up," says David Wilkins, one of the report authors, "and the number of possible moves for joint venture, partnership or takeover are more and more limited. Operators will increasingly be confronted with a stark choice - buy or be bought. As players jockey for position, old alliances will be disrupted and new ones formed. Operators will find that they are competing in some markets and co-operating in others, which will place new and challenging demands on their management."

While the leading mobile operators have been on the internationalisation trail for some time, their efforts are now taking on a new urgency as national markets open to foreign players. There is also a growing realisation that, in order to realise the full advantages of internationalisation, it is desirable to control, rather than merely invest in, overseas operators.

This first edition of Mobile Market Leaders opens with discussions of internationalisation and five other critical technical and business issues which have assumed importance for today's mobile operators: tariffing, branding, fixed-mobile convergence, mobile data services and preparations for 3G.

Mobile Market Leaders will help the reader to understand and to compare the 30 largest and most innovative players (see list below) that are driving these dramatic changes in the mobile market. Detailed profiles highlight the companies' recent activities and the often complicated shareholding relationships between them. A wealth of information is provided on every aspect of the operators' activities, including service offerings, networks, financial highlights and future plans. The report also includes a directory listing of over 80 additional leading mobile operators.

Written by David Wilkins, Danny Williams, Susan Ablett and Katrina Bond, Mobile Market Leaders is available in paper format or via the Web (www.analysys.com/publish) at a cost of USD2330 and USD2690 respectively.

Operators profiled in Mobile Market Leaders:

AT&T Wireless BCE Mobile Communications Inc. (Bell Mobility) Bell Atlantic (Mobile Operations) BellSouth Corp. (Mobile Operations) BT Cellnet DDI Corp. (Mobile Operations) Deutsche Telekom MobilNet GmbH (T-Mobil) France Telecom (Mobile Operations) Mannesmann Mobilfunk GmbH Mobile Telephone Networks (Pty) Ltd (MTN) Nextel Communications Inc. NTT Mobile Communications Network Inc. (NTT DoCoMo) Omnitel Pronto Italia GSM Orange plc RadioMobil AS SFR (Societe Francaise du Radiotelephone) Singapore Telecom Ltd (SingTel) (Mobile Operations) SK Telecom Corp. (formerly Korea Mobile Telecom) SmarTone Telecommunications Holdings Ltd Sonera Oy (Mobile Operations) Sprint PCS Swisscom (Mobile Operations) Tele Danmark A/S (Mobile Operations) Telecel Comunicacoes Pessoais (Portugal) Telecom Italia (Mobile Operations) Telefonica (Mobile Operations) Telia Mobile AB Telstra Corp. Ltd (Mobile Operations) VimpelCom (Bee Line Network) Vodafone AirTouch (formerly Vodafone Group plc and AirTouch

Communications Inc.)

About Analysys (www.analysys.com)

Analysys has built a worldwide reputation in the telecoms market, based on its rigorous research and creative analysis. With offices in Cambridge, London, Glasgow, Paris, Madrid, Kuala Lumpur and San Francisco, and an unrivalled understanding of telecoms markets, technologies, policy issues and strategies, Analysys has won a pre-eminent position in telecoms consultancy.