EUROTEL ANNOUNCES EXTREMELY
SUCCESSFUL RESULTS FOR 1997 |
EUROTEL ANNOUNCES EXTREMELY
SUCCESSFUL RESULTS FOR 1997 |
| EuroTel
announced that 1997 ended very successfully in all
aspects of their business. During 1997 EuroTel had sold
almost 231,000 GSM900 (EuroTel GSM Global) and NMT450i
(EuroTel Classic) customers. Total number of customers as of the end of 1997 was 429 000. EuroTel ended the year having sold a total of more than 327,000 EuroTel GSM Global customers since the system was launched on July 1, 1996. "The demand for mobile telephones is constantly increasing with year-end 1997 sales being very, very strong," said Mac Allman, EuroTel's Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director. He went on to say "I expect that by the year 2000, more than 10% of Czech citizens will be using mobile telephones, in other words there will be more than 1 million users. In 1997, EuroTel continued an aggressive expansion of its coverage area in the Czech Republic and by the end-of-the-year had invested more than 12 billion CZKc to provide the highest quality system measurements yet achieved in the Czech Repuiblic over a wide geographic area that covers almost all the population. The EuroTel Classic system now covers more than 96% of the Czech Republic and more than 98% of the inhabitants. The EuroTel GSM Global system covers more than 90% of the inhabitants. "We are investing a great amount of money in the development of coverage and improving quality, and our quality monitoring - which is measured daily - showed that these quality standards are expected by our customers. And, that if we provide the highest level of quality possible customers will select the EuroTel product and enable us to maintain our market leadership position. It is planned that EuroTel will spend in excess of 6 billion CZKc in 1998 to further develop its systems," added Mr. Allman. EuroTel has exceeded all the requirements of the Czech regulatory authorities for both quality and coverage requirements as was required by the GSM900 Authorization/License for December 31, 1997. Mr. Allman went of to say that "our quality measurements exceeded those of our competitor by more than 100% based upon our daily measurements of the two key criteria of Call Blocking and Dropped Calls." EuroTel has signed roaming agreements, which enables the use of the EuroTel GSM Global mobile telephones abroad, with 72 partners in 44 European countries, Africa, America, Asia, and Australia. With a EuroTel GSM Global mobile telephone, a customer can make calls not only in the majority of European countries but also, for example, in the Republic of South Africa, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, and Mauritius. EuroTelæs 1997 financial indicators were also very strong with annual revenues in excess of 10.4 billion CZKc, approximately 100% more than in 1996. "Our 1998 revenue forecast indicates that revenues will not double in 1998 but will be excellent. This is a result of the market for mobile telephones becoming more of a consumer product in 1998, and like everywhere else in the world the higher the penetration the lower the minutes of use per customer," Mr. Allman said. EuroTelæs successful syndicated U$D400 million loan, in October 1997, facility was the largest syndicated loan negotiated in the Czech Republic in 1997. "This loan will eanable EuroTel to make certain it has the funds necessary to invest for quality and capacity, including increasing in-building coverage, and ensures adequate working capital is in place to run the business" Mr. Allman said. In 1997 EuroTel introduced many new products and services, including the prepaid "GO" service; EuroTel GSM "START" monthly access package; the EuroTel Classic "Region" monthly access package; and, a number of other fax and data related packages. "These new offerings were designed by listening both to our current and future customers advising EuroTel as to the types of products and services they want. The "GO" service; the "Vikend" (weekends at only 1 CZKc per minute); and, "Tyden" (mobile-to-mobile calling at only 2 CZKc throughout the week), have been far more successful than forecast," Mr. Allman said. For example, total sales of the "GO" sada and "GO" karta packages through the end-of-January 1998 were in excess of 15,000. This product requires no contract between EuroTel and the customer and the customer has absolute control over the amount of money spent making calls. According to Mac Allman, EuroTel expects further significant increases in demand and the number of customers to continue in 1998. "We want to maintain and confirm our position as the largest mobile telephone operator in the Czech Republic into the future," he declared. "In 1997, EuroTel was - according to the number of customers and its absolute growth - the fastest growing company in the domestic market. EuroTel will be able to continue to convince our present and future customers that the quality of our services, our advantageous prices, and our flexible attractive offers will make certain that they receive the best value for their money in 1998 and in the future." EuroTel Praha Ltd, is a joint venture of SPT TELECOM Inc. (51%) and Atlantic West B.V. (49%). Altantic West is a company that is equally owned by Bell Atlantic (NYSE:BELL) and US WEST International, part of the US WEST Media Group (NYSE:UMG). Prague 3 February 1998 ___________________________________________________________________________ For
more information, please contact: Tel. 6701 1163, Fax: 6701 1195 |
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