Make new friends - chat by mobile phone

PRESS RELEASE - Karlskrona 9 June 1999 Make new friends - chat by mobile phone There is now a new and exciting way to make friends - chatting by mobile phone. By activating Europolitan's new chat function, users can communicate with other randomly chosen users. All Europolitan customers, including those that use the Europolitan EASY telephone card, can use this new chat function. Europolitan EASY customers can already send text messages (SMS), but the company has now gone a step further and offers the chat function to its mobile telephony customers. "Chatting by mobile phone is even more fun than chatting via the Internet," says Magnus Hoffner, Head of Marketing (Consumer Market), at Europolitan, "because you can chat anywhere." All chat messages are sent to Europolitan's 998899-chat centre telephone number. To get into the chat centre, you simply send the message "chat aktivera" ("activate chat"); you are now ready to receive messages from your new friends. You can also start up a chat by sending a text message to the chat centre. The recipient of the message is chosen at random from a list of active chatters. If you want to stop a chat session and start a new one, you just send a message "chat ny" ("new chat") and you will be put in touch with another person. You acknowledge a new chat by answering the chat centre. Recipients always have half an hour to acknowledge, after which the chat link is broken. When you no longer want to receive chat messages, you just send the message "chat deaktivera" ("deactivate chat"). Chatting with SMS messages does not cost more than sending a regular SMS message, SEK 2.38 (including VAT) for a maximum of 160 characters. It does not cost anything to have the chat function activated. Europolitan's EASY card is available at all Europolitan stores, telephony stores and at kiosks and stores throughout Sweden. If you already have an EASY card you can start using the chat function straight away. As opposed to chatting on the Internet, Europolitan's chat service is not anonymous. The sender's telephone number is always specified during a chat. Europolitan will not be monitoring the content of messages, but will disconnect anyone abusing the service from the chat function. To use Europolitan's chat service, customers must have the service, Eurotext to send messages. EuroText is included as part of the EASY telephone card, the new Privatabonnemang (Private subscription), as well as Bonus, Bonus Plus, Office and Distans. Europolitan AB is a Swedish GSM operator that prioritises service and quality. The company's head office is in Karlskrona, Sweden. Europolitan is a leader in the field of technically advanced services for GSM900/1800. The Europolitan Group, which also includes Europolitan AB's sister company Europolitan Stores AB and the stock market listed Parent Company, Europolitan Holdings AB, employs around 800 people. For more information, please contact: Mikael Kluge, Marketing Director, Europolitan AB, tel. +46 708 33 12 05, e-mail: mikael.kluge@europolitan.se Johan Holmgren, Head of Public Relations, Europolitan AB, tel. +46 708 33 14 00, e-mail: johan.holmgren@europolitan.se ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/06/09/19990609BIT00130/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/06/09/19990609BIT00130/bit0002.pdf