Telia awarded multimillion order by Regional Council in Kalmar County

Telia awarded multimillion order by Regional Council in Kalmar County Telia and the Regional Council in Kalmar County(Regionförbundet i Kalmar) today signed an agreement covering the expansion of the backbone network in Kalmar County, in the south of Sweden. As a result of this network expansion, approx. 85 percent of the regions households, and approximately 90 percent of the companies in the area, will have access to broadband service in 2003. In connection with the Council's procurement, Telia has also received an order to provide network solutions for the county's 12 municipalities and the Kalmar County Council. The total value of the agreements will be approximately SEK 235 million over a five-year period. The regional backbone network will have a capacity of 1 Gbit/s and connect 121 locations in the county. The agreement also covers the upgrade of some 70 switches to ADSL standards. Skanova, the wholesale network provider within the Telia group, will build the network and also manage its operation in the future. When the network is completely built by the second quarter of 2003, households and companies in the region will be able to connect via copper or fibre cable with speeds from 500 Kbit/s up to 1 Gbit/s. The network will be open to all operators and service providers that want to offer services. In connection with the order, Telia Partner has been awarded a project to provide a management network to the county's 12 municipalities and the Kalmar County Council. The network will be based on copper and fibre access to the regional backbone network. "This agreement shows that it is possible to establish powerful and viable solutions for co-operation on a regional level. We hope this agreement will be followed by several more," comments Marianne Nivert, President and CEO Telia AB. "The Regional Council in Kalmar County is one of four pilot projects in Sweden to test regional self-government and Swedish Parliament has given us the task to develop our region's infrastructure. Our mission is to see that the entire county becomes as attractive as possible for the people who work and live here. We are convinced that this agreement will help realize this," says Roger Kaliff, Chairman of the Regional Council in Kalmar County. For further information journalists can contact: Henrik Forssell, Sales Manager, Skanova, phone: +46 8 713 32 01 or +46 70 527 17 37 Dan Strömberg, President, Telia Partner, phone: +46 8 688 05 75 or +46 70 638 80 00 Lars Joelsson, Press Manager, Telia Networks, phone: +46 8 713 28 07 ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/06/27/20020627BIT00590/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2002/06/27/20020627BIT00590/wkr0002.pdf