Telia Acquires Unisource Iberia

Hoofddorp, Netherlands (PROTEXT) - Unisource NV today announced the signing of an agreement with Telia AB, in which Telia acquires the Spanish affiliated company Unisource Iberia. With this acquisition, Telia, the leading telecom operator in the Nordic and Baltic region, further expands its IP operations in Southern Europe and gains a strong presence in one of Europe's high growth Internet markets. Financial details were not disclosed. "The sale of Unisource Iberia is part of our plan to divest the Unisource companies," said Jules Delahaije, President and CEO of Unisource. "I am very pleased that we have found in Telia AB a new owner who can further build on the success of our Spanish company." Unisource Iberia started operations in 1998 and has already obtained a significant position in the Internet wholesale market in Spain. In June, the company launched the first phase of its national IP network, designed to offer advanced services for corporate customers, such as the IP Virtual Private Network service, making use of the latest Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology. The current IP network of Unisource Iberia covers the main business regions in Spain which puts the company in a leading position in the market of the value-added IP-related services for the business market. During the coming months, new nodes will be installed, in order to reach national coverage during the first quarter of next year. This strong local presence of Unisource Iberia combined with Telia's experience and know-how obtained from the most advanced IP market in Europe, position Unisource Iberia as the best partner in IP communication services for corporate customers in Spain. Note: About Unisource NV Unisource is a pan-European telecommunications group offering a broad range of services to providers and business customers in Europe. Unisource is owned equally by KPN Telecom of The Netherlands, Telia of Sweden and Swisscom of Switzerland. Today the Unisource group comprises D-Plus, one of Germany's leading mobile services providers; SIRIS, one of France's national operators, based in Paris; Unisource Iberia, in Madrid and Unisource Italia, in Milan. In July 1999, following AT&Ts exit as a shareholder, Unisource also became the 100% owner of AUCS Communications Services. Unisource NV is based in Hoofddorp, The Netherlands. News and information are available at http://www.unisource.com . ots Original Text Service: Unisource NV Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Lotta Rohman of Unisource, +31-23-568-6294 Web site: http://www.unisource.com Subscribers please note that material bearing the slug "PROTEXT" is not part of CTK's news service and is not to be published under the "CTK" slug. Protext is a commercial service providing distribution of press releases from clients, who are identified in the text of Protext reports and who bear full responsibility for their contents. PROTEXT