TDE.L Regulatory News (TDE)

26 Jan 2006 11:42

Cesky Telecom A.S.26 January 2006 > PRESS RELEASE - 26. 01. 2006> CESKY TELECOM QUADRUPLES THE SPEED OF ITS BROADBAND INTERNET CESKY TELECOM is substantially increasing the speed of its INTERNET EXPRESbroadband connections. From February 1st new subscribers can thus begin surfingup to four times faster than they are now while still paying the same price. Atthe same time, existing customers will also have their speed automaticallyquadrupled free of charge. CESKY TELECOM is increasing the speed of its basic INTERNET EXPRES IMPULSconnection from 128/64 kb/s to 512/128 kb/s, and its INTERNET EXPRES IDEALconnection will rise from 512/128 kb/s to 2 Mb/s. The prices for both packageswill remain the same as they are at present. "At this time, the fastestconnection variant, INTERENT EXPRES MAXI, now finally enables users to downloadfiles at a speed of up to 4 Mb/s. Such a connection enables them to make fulluse of all the possibilities of today's Internet, including truly high-speedInternet access, Internet television viewing, online gaming, and downloadingmusic and video files," says Fernando Astiaso Lain, Chief Marketing and SalesOfficer, CESKY TELECOM. By increasing connections speeds, CESKY TELECOM further affirms its leadingposition in the field of installing broadband Internet in the Czech Republic; itis improving the quality of its existing services and accommodating itscustomer's latest needs. "I believe that by taking this major step we aresubstantially shifting the market for Internet connection in Czech republic.This is great news for our customers and clearly demonstrates that we arecommitted to the broadband access market where we believe INTERNET EXPRES willretain its position as the preferred means of high-speed Internet connectionfor Czech customers," adds Astiaso Of course, CESKY TELECOM's existing clients can also look forward to increasedconnection speed. "Our current customers will automatically have their speedincreased while their fees will remain the same. All customers will be informedof the details in March," the operator's Press Spokesman Martin Zabka stated.Existing customers will have the possibility to request a speed increase atwww.internetexpres.cz, through the My Account application as the beginningFebruary. CESKY TELECOM is also making changes to the periodicity of monitoring its FairUser Policy, that is, the rule that ensures service accessibility for all users."With us, a customer will be able to make use a full month's data limitimmediately and will thus not have to wait a whole week for a new data limit. Wehave compiled individual weekly limits of the new INTERNET EXPRES Doma productsinto one monthly limit," explains Mr. Zabka. Other notable changes that CESKY TELECOM is making on February 1, 2006, is itsmethod of exercising its Fair User Policy. According to the new rules, acustomer of the new INTERNET EXPRES Doma may enjoy the full speed of theirconnection right up until their entire monthly data limit is spent, the changeof speed is now more transparent, the two-step becomes a one step. Another newoffer is a connection speed increase from 64/64 kb/s to 128/128 kb/s, with theexception of INTERNET EXPRES IMPULS. Along with the new range of INTERNET EXPRES products, an attractive specialoffer has also been prepared for customers - service installation for CZK 1, onemonth of service usage for CZK 1 and modems for a special price. For further information, please contact: MARTIN ZABKA Press Spokesman Tel: +420 271 463 359 Fax: +420 271 469 896 e-mail: tiskovy.odbor@ct.cz EESKY 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. EESKY 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