Springtoys to Deliver Mobile Games to Leading Mobile Operators and Service Providers, and Finalize Second Round Financin

Springtoys to Deliver Mobile Games to Leading Mobile Operators and Service Providers, and Finalize Second Round Financing (Helsinki, Finland, January 29th, 2001) Springtoys, a leading creator and enabler of wireless entertainment and technology for developing and hosting compelling high-end wireless games, is finalizing agreements with four leading European mobile operators and service providers: KPN Mobile, Terra Mobile-iobox, Orange and Zed to offer high-end wireless entertainment products to their customers. Springtoys will deliver a wide spectrum of interactive mass-market WAP and SMS- based services, including interactive comics, puzzle, adventure, and strategy games with both single- and multiplayer capabilities. Currently these agreements represent a potential customer base of over 18 million mobile phone users. First products will be introduced during the ongoing quarter. "We are delighted about the opportunity to work with those operators that are at the forefront of launching sophisticated value-added services. These deals will give us access to millions end-customers and will secure our position at the cutting edge of mobile content", says JarmoKuusivuori, CEO of Springtoys. "This partnership with Springtoys compliments our own entertainment sector in an excellent way Springtoys is a recognised brand, and have considerable experience in developing exciting wireless entertainment services in the areas, where Terra Mobile has an interest in, WAP, SMS and PDAs. In order to consolidate our position as a global leader, we need to continue offering our customers a very attractive range of services, including stimulating games and entertainment", says Jorge Navas, Head of Entertainment, Terra Mobile "We have chosen Springtoys as our partner to provide our customers with the most exciting mobile services in the market because Springtoys has vast expertise in creating innovative entertainment content. Together we will enable KPN Mobile's subscribers to get even more value from their mobile services", says Wendelien van den Hoek, Content Manager of KPN Mobile. "Orange is set to become a major player in wirefree gaming having established ourselves as both a developer and publisher, says Kamar Shah, Games Marketing Manager of Orange. "Springtoys will be another excellent addition to our considerable portfolio of games". Springtoys has also successfully completed its second round of financing totalling EURO 10 million. The funding is provided investor group lead by Wellington Partners, a German-based venture capital company focusing on the areas of mobile content and software infrastructure. Eqvitec Partners and Sonera Corporation increased their existing shareholding in Springtoys. The new financing partner will contribute strongly to future operations with its expertise in wireless communication. According to Jarmo Kuusivuori, CEO of Springtoys, the new capital will enable Springtoys to continue intense R&D development. Another goal is to accelerate the company's international expansion on all aspects of its mobile entertainment approach together with leading operators, handset manufacturers, media companies and content owners. "We are very excited about our involvement in Springtoys" says Joerg Ueberla of Wellington Partners. "We strongly believe that mobile gaming is a sweet spot. Due to Springtoys' exposure in the gaming community, their strong relationships to handset manufacturers and to operators like Sonera, they are ideally positioned to maintain a leading role in this space. About Springtoys Springtoys, headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, is a recognised leader in creating innovative and creative mobile entertainment content and services, seamlessly integrated across a number of delivery platforms, including WAP, SMS, EPOS and PalmOS. Springtoys also designs and licenses technology for developing and hosting compelling high-end wireless game products. Founded in January 2000, Springtoys is owned by Sonera Corporation, Housemarque Inc., Eqvitec Partners, Wellington Partners and management. Springtoys employes 65 professionals at its premises in Helsinki, London, Rovaniemi and Tampere. For further information, please visit http://www.springtoys.com For additional information, please contact: EQVITEC PARTNERS Juha Mikkola Senior Partner Tel. +358 50 590 0522 Email juha.mikkola@eqvitec.fi KPN MOBILE Wendelien van den Hoek Content Manager Tel. +31 (0)70 343 82 57 Email w.v.vandenhoek@kpn.com ORANGE Kamar Shah Games Marketing Manager Tel. +44 7976 252 962 Email kamar.shah@orange.co.uk SONERA CORPORATION Inka Mero Sonera Venture Capital Tel.+358 40 5040605 Email inka.mero@sonera.com TERRA MOBILE-IOBOX Irène Nyberg-Jarventaus VP, Global Press Relations Terra Mobile - iobox, London Tel +44 20 7798 6940 direct Mobile +358 40 741 4067 Email irène.nyberg@terra-mobile.com SONERA ZED Chembi Merser Zed press office Tel.+44 20 86060 6067 Email chembi.merser@sonera.com WELLINGTON PARTNERS Joerg Ueberla, Partner Tel. +49 89 420792-0 Email joerg.ueberla@wellington.de About Eqvitec Partners EQVITEC Partners Ltd is a leading venture capital firm focusing on technology intensive investments enabling mobility. EQVITEC develops primarily Finnish and Nordic technology companies and supports them entering the global marketplace. EQVITEC has made over 25 successful investments in the past two years. See: www.eqvitec.com About KPN Royal Dutch Telecom KPN is a fast growing international telecommunications company based in The Netherlands. It focuses on growth in three core activities: mobile, IP/data services and Internet, call center and media services, where it strives to achieve a European top position. KPN reaches over 20 million customers. In the Netherlands KPN has 9 million connections on its fixed network and is market leader. Via KPNQwest IP/data services are offered to the business and wholesale market in Europe. In the mobile area KPN has strong strategic partners in Bell South and NTT Docomo. KPN Mobile (for 85% owned by KPN) has approximately 12 million customers. For the first half of 2000, KPN reported operating revenues of @ 5,202 million and Ebitda of @ 1,757 million. About Orange Orange provides a broad range of personal communications services. As well as Orange GSM 1800 services, this includes other digital cellular telephone and paging services. As at 30 September 2000, Orange has over 8.3 million customers. Orange is the largest and fastest-growing digital mobile phone network in the UK, with over 7,000 base stations, and more than 10,000 sites targeted by 2001. Orange now offers roaming on over 200 networks in 100 countries. Information about Orange can be found on the Orange website at www.orange.co.uk and media information can be found at www.media.orange.net. About Sonera Corporation Sonera (HEX: SRA, NASDAQ: SNRA) is an international forerunner in mobile communications and mobile-based services and applications. By combining its expertise in mobile communications, the Internet and service provision, Sonera aims to develop into a global communications operator and provider of transaction and content services. The company also provides advanced data communications solutions to businesses, and fixed network voice services in Finland and its nearby areas. In 1999, Sonera's revenues amounted to EUR 1.85 billion and profit before extraordinary items and taxes was EUR 0.5 billion. About Terra Mobile-iobox Terra Mobile - iobox is the leading European portal in Mobile Internet services. Terra Mobile - iobox currently provides services in the UK, Germany, Spain, Finland and Sweden, and has a base of over three million registered users to whom it offers messenger services, as well as personal communication, information, m-commerce and entertainment via the mobile telephone. Terra Mobile is the Telefonica Group's global mobile portal. It is owned by Telefónica Móviles (51 %) and Terra Lycos (49 %). Its goal is to become the biggest portal in its sector in those markets in which it competes, providing a complete range of services that allow any mobile telephone user to access the Internet contents. Telófonica Móviles (TEM) is one of the ten largest mobile operators in the world with over 23 million customers, and the leader in Spain and Latin America, and Terra Lycos (TRR-TRLY) is one of the most popular Internet networks in the US, Europe and Asia, and the leading portal to Spanish and Portuguese speaking markets. Iobox was founded in Helsinki in 1999, and acquired in June, 2000 by Terra Mobile. At the time it was acquired, iobox was the number-one independent Mobile Internet portal in Europe. About Wellington Partners Wellington Partners invests venture capital in young and creative IT and Internet companies which represent, form and utilise the global technology trends with a focus on companies in the areas of: Enabling Technology and Infrastructure, Mobile Communication/Wireless and Internet (B2B, C2C, B2C). Wellington Partners is an active early stage investor and supports its fast-growing companies in building teams, giving strategic advice, preparing for international expansion, contacting potential customers, acquiring strategic partners, and securing financing. Wellington Partners is based in Munich and invests in technology companies all over Europe. Managed venture capital funds total @280 million and typical investments range from @ 2 - 10 million in first rounds and up to @ 20 million in second rounds. About Zed Sonera Zed Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Finnish telecommunications group Sonera Corporation (HEX: SRA, NASDAQ: SNRA, http://www.sonera.com). Established in 1999, the zed mobile portal provides personalised information, communication and entertainment services. Unlike most internet-based portals, zed helps its customers by developing services which put content into a context appropriate to customers' lifestyles in an easy-to-use format, both in text messaging and WAP services. The market for mobile value added services, mobile marketing and m- commerce is projected to grow to US$3.5bn in revenues in Western Europe in 2004 (source: Ovum Wireless Portals 2000). Zed targets specific groups of users such as youth and busy professionals with time and location specific content and services. As its technical platform is designed specifically for the mobile environment, zed is well placed to exploit application and service developments such as location-based services and radio network technology developments such as GPRS and UMTS. Zed runs data centres in Finland, Singapore, USA (New Jersey), Netherlands and Germany (Frankfurt - under construction). Further information on zed may be found under http://www.zed.com ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/01/29/20010129BIT00790/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2001/01/29/20010129BIT00790/bit0002.fcm