TDE.L Regulatory News (TDE)

13 Apr 2006 14:45

Cesky Telecom A.S.13 April 2006 > PRESS RELEASE - 13. 4. 2006> CESKY TELECOM INCREASED INTERNET SPEED FOR 70% OF ALL CUSTOMERS To this day, CESKY TELECOM has already increased connection speed for 210thousand ADSL service subscribers. Therefore, by the end of April 95% of allcustomers will have had their connection speeds increased. The remaining 5% willhave their connection speeds boosted over the course of May of this year. Sincethis Monday, subscribers who have received this boost have been informed of thechange by means of a new automatic voice message system. "From organisational and technical perspectives, the process of migrating300,000 customers is a very difficult task and we are glad that so fareverything has been going according to plan. A speed boost of up to four timesthe original speed is being provided for all existing customers whose telephonelines have the technical parameters to allow for it. At this time, 96% of alllines are capable of handling the change," says Martin Zabka, Press Spokesman,CESKY TELECOM, adding, "The new speed will be provided for subscribersautomatically, free of charge and now with an automatic voice message servicenotifying them of the change." On average, CESKY TELECOM receives over 8,000 orders per week. 99% of customersuse the opportunity to get connected by means of a self-installation package.The average installation period is then around seven days. In addition to a purely technical speed increase, CESKY TELECOM has decided tobroaden the method by which it is informing clients of the speed boost. A newvoice message system has been launched in order to familiarize all INTERNETEXPRES subscribers of the new qualitative parameters of their connections in theform of a phone call to the relevant fixed line. The voice system thuscomplements the classic email and letter systems that CESKY TELECOM has beenusing to keep its customers informed. Since February 1, 2006, CESKY TELECOM has boosted its broadband Internetconnection speeds considerably. For instance, the connection speed of the basicINTERNET EXPRES IMPULS service (128/64 kb/s) has been quadrupled to 512/128 kb/sand CESKY TELECOM now offers the INTERNET EXPRES IDEAL service with a speed of 2Mb/s at its original price. For further information, please contact: MARTIN ZABKAPress SpokesmanTel: +420 271 463 359Fax: +420 271 469 896e-mail: tiskovy.odbor@ct.cz CESKY TELECOM, a. s., a member of the Telefonica Group, is the leadingtelecommunications company in the Czech Republic. Through its subsidiary companyEurotel Praha, spol. s r.o., it also has a significant presence in the Czechmobile services market. Further information about the firm and the services itoffers is available at www.telecom.cz, which was rated as BestWeb 2003 in theWebTop100 survey. Signum Temporis has consistently awarded CESKY TELECOM for being one of thedomestic capital market's most transparent firms in terms of providinginformation. Based on an open vote of specialists, members of the press and anine-member committee, CESKY TELECOM placed first in 2003, just as it did in2001. CESKY TELECOM ranks among the most prominent firms on the Czech capital marketin terms of capitalization and trading volumes. Its shares are also traded onthe London Stock Exchange in the form of GDRs. CESKY TELECOM's credit rating isthe highest a Czech corporation can receive from top international ratingagencies. About Telefonica Telefonica is Europe's leading integrated telecom company and second biggest inthe world. Its activities are centred mainly on the fixed and mobile telephonybusinesses with broadband as the key tool for the development of both of these. The company is operating in 40 countries and together with CESKY TELECOM has acustomer base that amounts to more than 140 million access. Telefonica has astrong presence in Latin America, where the company concentrates part of itsgrowth strategy. Telefonica is a 100% listed company, with more than 1.5 million directshareholders. Its share capital currently comprises 4,921,130,397 ordinaryshares traded on the Spanish Stock Market (Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao andValencia) and on those in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, New York, Lima,Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo and the SEAQ International Exchange in London. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange