STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Sept. 19, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Tele2 AB ("Tele2," "the Group") (Nasdaq:TLTOA) (Nasdaq:TLTOB) (Stockholm:TEL2A) (Stockholm:TEL2B), the leading alternative pan-European telecommunications company, today announced that its joint venture with Telia AB, Svenska UMTS-nat AB, is fully funded.
Svenska UMTS-nat AB has today signed a SEK 11 billion term loan and revolving credit facility. This facility will provide Svenska UMTS-nat AB with a fully funded business plan to build out the third generation UMTS network in Sweden.
Svenska UMTS-nat AB is a 50-50 joint venture between Tele2 and Telia Mobile. The company will build and operate a network for the next generation of mobile telephony, UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System).
Tele2 had originally been awarded the licence to build the 3G network in Sweden and in March 2001 the two shareholders signed a co-operation agreement which has since been approved by the competition authorities and the regulator. The cooperation covers only the establishment and sharing of the network (through Svenska UMTS-nat AB) and both Tele2 and Telia Mobile will continue to offer mobile services in Sweden independently. In June 2001 Ericsson was selected as the system provider.
This banking facility was arranged by Nordea and Svenska Handelsbanken and in the syndicate were Swedbank, ABN Amro, Credit Agricole indosuez, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken.
Lars-Johan Jarnheimer, President and CEO of Tele2 AB stated:
"The build-out of the UMTS network is proceeding on schedule and at this point it was necessary to put this banking facility in place to fully fund the programme. Our joint venture agreement has more than halved the cost of UMTS build out for Tele2 and the prospects for our 3G services are good. We will have a UMTS network operational in Sweden and MVNOs in place in Norway and Denmark and a licence in Finland, which will enable us to provide a pan-Nordic UMTS network for our customers."
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 16.2 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; C(3), 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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