SONERAS INTEREST COMPANY RECEIVES 3G MOBILE NETWORK LICENCE IN SPAIN
SONERA CORPORATION STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE
MARCH 13, 2000, 9.50 a.m.
SONERAS INTEREST COMPANY XFERA MOVILE S.A. RECEIVES
THIRD GENERATION MOBILE NETWORK LICENCE IN SPAIN
Xfera Movile S.A. of Spain, in which Sonera Corporation
is a founding shareholder (15%), has today been granted a
third generation mobile network licence in Spain. The
Spanish mobile communications market is the fifth largest
in Europe with its estimated 15 million customers. The
mobile phone penetration of the country is 40%.
The Spanish State granted altogether four national third
generation mobile network licences on the basis of the
applications that were filed by January 12. In addition
to the impressive Spanish shareholders, Xferas strengths
in the Spanish licence competition included the
consortium whose members strongly represent the private
sector and whose operator members are present in all
major European markets.
The licensees must pay a one-time licence fee of EUR 130
million. In addition, the licensees have undertaken to
invest several hundreds of millions of euros in the
promotion of the Spanish information society. In the case
of Xfera, this means an investment of EUR 500 million.
During the years 2000 to 2004, Sonera will invest a total
of EUR 350 million of shareholders equity in Xfera.
Sonera is planning to finance its investments by selling
property.
In addition to shareholders equity, Xfera will acquire
the funding required for its investments on the basis of
project financing. The cumulative network and IT
investments of Xfera will amount to about EUR 3.3 billion
by the end of 2004.
According to the licence terms, the company is planning
to start the provision of commercial UMTS services on
August 1, 2001, provided that a sufficient number of
network equipment and terminals are available on the
market by that time.
In addition to Sonera, the shareholders of Xfera Movile
S.A. include the French multi-business company Vivendi
(27.5%, owns e.g. French GSM operator SFR), the Spanish
construction and engineering company ACS (20%), the
German multi-business company Mannesmann (7%), the
Spanish investment fund Mercapital (17.6%), Acesa, a
subsidiary of the savings bank Caixa, (7.9%), and the
financing company Ahorro Corporacion Financiera (5%).
Once the merger of Mannesmann and Vodafone, which is
likely to take place, has been implemented, the British
mobile operator Orange will replace Mannesmann in Xfera.
After Finland, Spain is the second country in Europe to
grant licences for third generation mobile networks. In
March 1999, Sonera received the third generation mobile
network licence in Finland. Soneras subsidiary Spectrum
is currently participating in the licence auction that is
taking place in the United Kingdom.
Sonera Corporation (HEX:SRA; NASDAQ:SNRA) is an
international forerunner in mobile communications and
mobile-based services and applications. By combining its
expertise in mobile communications, the Internet and
service provision, Sonera aims to develop into a global
communications operator and provider of transaction and
content services. In 1999, Soneras revenues amounted to
EUR 1.85 billion, and profit before extraordinary items
and taxes was EUR 0.5 billion.
SONERA CORPORATION
Jari Jaakkola
Executive Vice President
Corporate Communications & IR
For further information, please contact:
Sonera, Ms Pirjo Kek„l„inen-Torvinen,
Senior Vice President,
International Business Development,
tel. +358 40 532 9992,
e-mail: pirjo.kekalainen-torvinen@sonera.com
Distribution:
HEX, Helsinki Exchanges
Major media
Source: Helsinki 2000-03-13, Kauppalehti Online
kauppalehti.fi
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