Glocalnet participates in consortium for open network

UMTS plans go ahead: Glocalnet participates in consortium for open network Stockholm, Sweden-August 22, 2000 - On August 22 Glocalnet signed a letter of intent with Ratos, Teracom and Nomura to join the consortium which plans to submit an application for a license for third generation mobile telephony, UMTS. "We have stressed for a long time that for competition to work properly in the mobile telephone market many different players have to be given the opportunity to produce and market services in the mobile networks", says Glocalnet's CEO Stefan Krook. "The ideal situation would be a separation of service production and network operation, which is the basic idea behind the open network concept that we have argued for so stubbornly. Having had discussions with just about every player with any declared ambitions for UMTS, we have found that Ratos, Teracom and Nomura have philosophies which most closely mirror our own. We also believe that they have better opportunities than anyone else to build a nation-wide UMTS network quickly, which means the chances of being issued a license are good." "We will now set about studying and analysing the material which our partners have produced thus far, since this will essentially form the basis of our joint application. Glocalnet will be an active partner throughout the licensing process, but if we are given a license we will mainly be influencing the network company in our role as a buyer of network capacity, in other words, as a customer. In order to maintain the open network's credibility, it is important that we cannot exploit the fact of our ownership to get involved in the operational running of the network company. For this reason we also intend to own only a minority share in the company", comments Stefan Krook. "The most important thing for Glocalnet is to get access to the mobile telephone network, in order also to be able to provide our customers with mobile telephony and integrated services", stresses Stefan Krook. "By taking part in a consortium with an open network, we hope to be able to achieve this within a few years. In order to succeed even faster, we are continuing to work in parallel on our attempts to gain access to the current GSM networks." About Glocalnet Glocalnet develops and provides communication services sold directly to the end customer or alongside marketing partners. This year, Glocalnet intends to become Sweden's third largest fixed private telephony player. The company's vision is to become a leading operator of Internet-based services in Northern Europe. Glocalnet has strategic collaborations with corporations such as Cisco Systems and Portal Software. Glocalnet is headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, and the company's stock is quoted on Stockholm Exchange's O list. About the Consortium Ratos, Nomura and Teracom have formed a consortium with the intention of building a neutral and open network for third generation mobile telephony, UMTS. The consortium's network will be open to all service operators wishing to buy network capacity. This will therefore create the necessary preconditions for greater competition within mobile telephony in Sweden. The neutrality and openness of the network will be secured by the consortium's original members, Ratos, Nomura and Teracom, retaining a majority holding in the company, and by Teracom having only a minority holding. An ownership share has been reserved for those service providers who also wish to participate . ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/08/22/20000822BIT00670/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/08/22/20000822BIT00670/bit0002.pdf