NEW YORK and STOCKHOLM, Sweden, March 12, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Tele2 AB, ("Tele2", "the Group") (Nasdaq:TLTOA) (Nasdaq:TLTOB) and (Stockholmsborsen:TEL2A) (Stockholmsborsen:TEL2B), the leading alternative pan-European telecommunications company, today announces that the Swedish Competition Authority has granted an exemption to Tele2 and Telia which allows UMTS network cooperation within their new joint venture Svenska UMTS-nat AB. Tele2 and Telia have a five year automatic exemption to the competition law prohibiting cooperation which is valid until Februay 26, 2007.
Lars-Johan Jarnheimer, CEO and president of Tele2 commented: 'We are very pleased with this decision, as it will benefit consumers in terms of the cost of services that they will be able to purchase and also it will speed the development of UMTS services in the Swedish market. The decision will mean that Tele2 will be able to share the cost of building the UMTS network with Telia so enabling Tele2 to continue to provide our customers with the price leading service'.
Tele2 AB, formed in 1993, is the leading alternative pan-European telecommunications company offering fixed and mobile telephony, data network and Internet services under the brands Tele2, Tango and Comviq to 15 million people in 21 countries. Tele2 operates Datametrix, which specializes in systems integration, 3C Communications, operating public pay telephones and public Internet services; Transac, providing billing and transaction processing service; C3, offering co-branded pre-paid calling cards and IntelliNet and Optimal Telecom, the price-guaranteed residential router device. The Group offers cable television services under the Kabelvision brand name and together with MTG, owns the Internet portal Everyday.com. The Company is listed on the Stockholmsborsen, under TEL2A and TEL2B, and on the Nasdaq Stock Market under TLTOA and TLTOB.
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