TDE.L Regulatory News (TDE)

19 Apr 2007 09:55

Telefonica O2 Czech Republic, A.S.19 April 2007 Press release O2 Scores an A for Market Entry - It Serves More Than 400,000 Active Customers Bratislava 19 April 2007 As at 19 April 2007, Telefonica O2 Slovakia serves more than 400,000 activecustomers. The company is successfully establishing itself on the Slovak market,breaking several records related to the entry of mobile operators to newmarkets. Customers may now use pre-paid services provided by O2 while anextensive portfolio of services and products will gradually be introduced. "Telefonica O2 Slovakia entered the Slovak market which had a penetration levelalmost 100%.. In less than 6 months of having acquired the licence, weintroduced the offer for O2 Jednotkas, which brought to us over 600, registeredpre-subscribers. Less than 3 months of operation, we have over 400,000 activecustomers. At this moment I may frankly say that our team deserves an A forhaving mastered the entry to the Slovak market. We are now planning to graduallyintroduce a comprehensive offer of services and products for our existing aswell as prospective customers which will conform to the high quality standardsof the Telefonica group," says Director General Juraj Sedivy. The first offer introduced by Telefonica O2 Slovakia last December to captureprospective customers was telephone calls for SKK 2 within their network for anunlimited time. Over 600,000 O2 Jednotkas registered who still have until 30April 2007 to activate their SIM cards . Comprehensive O2 Narovinu profiledesigned for prepaid customers was launched in February. O2 Narovinu customerscan make phone calls to all networks in Slovakia on any day and at any time at aflat rate of SKK8.50. A reduced tariff of SKK 7.90 is available until the end ofJune for those customers who recharge their pre-paid cards with at least SKK 500a month. Telefonica O2 Slovakia began commercial operation symbolically on 2 February2007. The company so far provides its services through national roaming, but thebuilding of own network is its strategic priority. The first part of thecompany's own GSM network was put into operation in February; construction ofnetwork base stations continues as scheduled. More than 400 base stations shouldbe completed by the end of September. In 14 days Telefonica O2 Slovakia opened first 11 brand stores; some more are tofollow soon. Recharge vouchers are available through a wide network of more than3,000 sales points throughout Slovakia. In addition, the company has opened acompetitive bidding for franchise and dealer stores; an e-shop launch is underpreparation. Contacts: HANA HEJSKOVA Telefonica O2 Slovakia s.r.o. hana.hejskova@o2.com tel.: +421 949 22 00 22 tel: +420 602 17 16 51 JURAJ PUCHY AMI Communications Slovakia juraj.puchy@amic.sk tel: +421 2 4341 5709 Mobil: +421 918 604 538 About the company Telefonica O2 Slovakia, s.r.o. Telefonica O2 Slovakia entered the Slovak market of mobile operators on thebasis of the decision issued by the selection committee of the TelecommunicationAuthority of the SR as of 25.8.2006. The license includes the rights to use thefrequencies GSM 900 MHz, GSM 1800 MHz, UMTS and 28/29 GHz for the period of 20years for the purpose of providing telecommunication services in the SlovakRepublic. The company launched its commercial operation on 2.2.2007. In theinitial phase it provides services on the basis of national roaming, however, inparallel it is intensively building-up its own network. Its first offer wastargeted at customers of prepaid services. Gradually the company plans tointroduce the offer for the whole spectrum of customers. Within theinternational group Telefonica, Telefonica O2 Slovakia belongs to the groupTelefonica O2 Europe. For all its marketing activities in the Slovak Republicthe company will use the brand-name O2. About the company Telefonica O2 Europe The company O2 consists of the mobile networks operators in Great Britain andIreland, and also of integrated operators of fixed and mobile networks inGermany and the Czech Republic. All these operators present themselves to theirlocal customers under the brand-name O2. Telefonica O2 is the holder of 50%share in the joint stock companies Tesco Mobile in Great Britain and TchiboMobilfunk in Germany; At the same time it is also 100% holder of the company Be,the leader in providing broad band services in Great Britain. To the group alsobelongs the operator of fixed and mobile services on the island Man - thecompany Manx Telecom and the company O2 Airwave, which supplies the digitalcommunication to the emergency system units and other public organizations. Telefonica O2 Europe, belonging to the group Telefonica, has its headquarters inSlough in Great Britain, it has 38 million customers in fixed and mobilenetworks. About the company Telefonica S.A. Telefonica is, from the point of view of the market capitalization, one of thelargest telecommunication companies in the world. Its business activities aremainly aimed at fixed and mobile telephone markets, while the key tool fordevelopment of both it considers the broad band connection. The company extensively operates in 23 countries where it has a 203 millioncustomer base. All the stock of the company Telefonica is quoted in the stock exchange, whilemore than 1.5 million of direct shareholders are sharing them. At present thebasic capital is divided among 4,921, 130,397 ordinary shares traded in theSpanish stock exchange (Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao and Valencia) and in thestock exchanges of London, Paris, Frankfurt, Tokio, New York, Lime, Buenos Airesand Sao Paulo. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange