Williams and Telia Announce a network transaction at a total market value of $440 Million

Williams and Telia Announce a network transaction at a total market value of $440 Million Telia, a Swedish operator and Williams Communications (NYSE: WCG) based in the United States, have signed definitive buy/sell agreements at a total market value of 440 Million dollars. The deal will provide Williams' with fiber on Telia's Pan-European network and transatlantic capacity, while providing Telia fiber on Williams' U.S. network. The twenty-year agreement also stipulates that the two companies will provide related collocation space and maintenance services to one another. Williams Communications will have access to selected routes on Telia's 28,000-mile fiber optic network in Europe which covers most of northwestern Europe including Denmark, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Williams will also purchase capacity from Telia in the transatlantic cable network TAT- 14, which is scheduled for operation by year-end 2000. In return, Telia will be granted 11 000 route miles on Williams' US-based fiber optic network giving Telia presence and access to most major US cities. Telia will take its new US network in service during the forth quarter of 2000 and the first quarter of 2001. "Williams Communications has already established its presence in the United States as the leading provider of end-to-end network services for the carrier marketplace," said Howard E. Janzen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Williams Communications. "We have rapidly forged a significant European stronghold and will continue this aggressive expansion into other international regions to provide our customers with the same level of high-quality services on a global basis." This is the second time in four weeks that Telia has announced a fiber deal with a North American network operator. At the end of January, Telia agreed to a similar deal with Worldwide Fiber, a Canadian company. That contract, together with the one with Williams Communications, will provide Telia with a total of 19,700 route miles of fiber optic network serving 66 North American cities in all. Telia's first step will be to offer traffic to the 17 largest cities in the network, including Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco and Washington D.C. "For some time now, Telia has been making major investments in the international telecom wholesalers' market. Last year we announced that Telia over the next two years will invest SEK 5 billion in its own networks in Europe and the USA. Our goal is to become one of the three largest network providers in Europe, and now we're expanding in the US as well," says Marianne Nivert, vice President in Telia and Head of BA Carrier & Networks. "By gaining a major presence in the US, we're moving closer to our goal of being a global player." Telia will purchase and deploy state-of-the-art electronics to light and manage its fiber network. Deploying the latest DWDM technology, Telia will offer a "continuously upgradeable" network to ensure that it can meet its customers' demands for bandwidth, IP-connectivity and other bandwidth- intensive applications. "Now we will be able to offer our customers end-to-end connectivity over our fully owned and operated networks, all the way from the California in the west to Russia in the east," says Magnus Kjell, President of Telia North America, Inc. "By deploying the latest technologies, we expect to have one of the fastest and highest capacity networks available. This will enable us to offer not only the traditional broadband services but the latest in IP features and applications to other network operators and ISPs." For further information, please contact: Magnus Kjell, Telia North America, Inc. +1 703 288-1330, Magnus.Kjell@tna.telia.com Anna-Carin Uddenberg, Press Officer, Telia , BA Carrier & Networks, + 46 8 713 28 42 or +46 70 530 40 63, anna-carin.a.uddenberg@telia.se ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/03/01/20000301BIT00860/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/03/01/20000301BIT00860/bit0002.pdf