Telekom Austria Agrees Memorandum of Understanding and Exclusivity With Mobiltel's Shareholders to Acquire a Call Right for the Purchase of Mobiltel VIENNA, Austria, November 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Telekom Austria (VSE: TKA, NYSE: TKA) announced, that the Company has agreed a Memorandum of Understanding and exclusivity with the shareholders of Mobiltel AD, the leading Bulgarian wireless operator, to acquire a call right with respect to the purchase of Mobiltel. The call right would give Telekom Austria, at its discretion, the unilateral right to acquire 100% of Mobiltel in late 2005 for a total enterprise value of approximately EUR 1.6 billion, part of which would be performance-related. If the call right is exercised, Telekom Austria intends to fund the acquisition mainly through its cash flow. Telekom Austria does not intend to raise equity in order to finance the potential acquisition and will continue its current share buyback programme. As of 30 June 2004, Mobiltel had approximately 2.75 million subscribers, making it the largest mobile communications operator in Bulgaria with a subscriber market share of approximately 67%. For the 12 months ended 30 June 2004, Mobiltel had proforma revenues and EBITDA of approximately EUR 455 million and EUR 290 million, respectively. Mobiltel is owned by a consortium of Austrian and international financial investors. With total managed revenues of EUR 3.9 billion and 13,900 employees in 2003 Telekom Austria is the largest telecommunications company in Austria and also one of the leading corporations in this country. Telekom Austria AG has been listed on both the Vienna and New York stock exchanges since November 2000. Lehman Brothers and Raiffeisen Investment AG are advising Telekom Austria on this transaction. Additional Information on Bulgaria - Geographic Information: - Population 2003: 7.8 mn - 30% of population live in urban areas of Sofia (capital), Plovdiv and Varna - Area: 110,912 km (squared) - Economic Information: 2001 2002 2003 GDP Growth (real) 4.1% 4.9% 4.3% Inflation 7.4% 5.8% 2.3% Unemployment rate 19.2% 17.8% 13.6% Foreign direct investment (in % of GDP) 5.0% 5.6% 6.7% Foreign direct investment (in EUR million) 755 923 1,190 - The Bulgarian Lew is pegged to the Euro at 1.96 Lew per EUR - Bulgaria's credit ratings: - Standard & Poor's (S&P): BBB- - Moody's: Ba1 - Fitch: BBB- - Bulgaria's accession to the EU is targeted for 2007 Additional Information on Mobiltel 2001 2002 2003 1H 2003 1H 2004 Mobile penetration 17.9% 28.3% 44.0% 33.7% 51.8% Mobiltel market share 77.2% 74.0% 69.4% 73.1% 67.0% Subscribers (in 000) 1,102 1,672 2,425 1,961 2,750 Blended ARPU (in EUR) 29.2 21.0 15.8 16.3 13.1 Revenues (in EUR million) 332 384 432 203 226 Growth n.a. 15.6% 12.5% n.a. 11.2% EBITDA (in EUR million) 187 221 272 131 148 EBITDA Margin 56.4% 57.6% 63.0% 64.4% 65.4% Net income (in EUR million) 117 144 184 90 107 Capex 111 160 87 31 52 As % of revenues 33.4% 41.5% 20.2% 15.0% 22.9% DATASOURCE: Telekom Austria AG CONTACT: Martin Bredl, Head of Corporate Communications, Tel: +43-59-059-1-11001, E-Mail: . Hans Fruhmann, Head of Investor Relations, Tel: +43-59-059-1-20917, E-Mail:

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