HTC Hungarian Telephone And Cable Corp

Hungarian Telephone and Cable Corp. (AMEX:HTC) is set to join the Russell 3000(R) Index and the Russell 2000(R) Index when Russell Investment Group reconstitutes its family of 23 U.S. indexes on June 24, 2005. Russell recently posted a list of preliminary additions to its indexes on www.russell.com. Membership in the Russell 3000, which remains in place for one year, means automatic inclusion in the small-cap Russell 2000 as well as the appropriate growth and style indexes. Russell determines membership for its equity indexes primarily by objective, market capitalization rankings and style attributes. Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for index funds and as benchmarks for both passive and active investment strategies. More than $2.5 trillion in assets currently are benchmarked to them. Investment managers who oversee these funds purchase shares of member stocks, according to that company's weighting in the particular index. Annual reconstitution of the Russell indexes captures the 3,000 largest U.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total market capitalization to create the Russell 3000. The largest 1,000 companies in the ranking comprise the Russell 1000 Index while the remaining 2,000 companies become the widely used Russell 2000. These investment tools originated from Russell's multi-manager investment business in the early 1980s when the company saw the need for a more objective, market-driven set of benchmarks in order to evaluate outside investment managers. Russell, a global leader in multi-manager investment services, provides investment products and services in more than 39 countries. Russell manages more than $135 billion in assets and advises clients worldwide representing $2.3 trillion. Founded in 1936, Russell is a subsidiary of Northwestern Mutual and is headquartered in Tacoma, Washington, with additional offices in New York, Toronto, London, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, Auckland and Tokyo. For more information, go to www.russell.com. ABOUT HUNGARIAN TELEPHONE AND CABLE CORP. Hungarian Telephone and Cable Corp. is the leading alternative telecommunications service provider in the Republic of Hungary with a presence in other countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Note: This press release contains forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These and all forward-looking statements are only predictions or statements of current plans that are constantly under review by the Company. Such statements are qualified by important factors that may cause actual results to differ from those contemplated, including as a result of those factors detailed from time to time in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The foregoing information should be read in conjunction with the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission including, but not limited to, reports on Forms 10-K and 10-Q. The company has no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements to reflect the occurrence of future events or circumstances.