Statement from AOL Europe / Frank Sarfeld, Director Corporate Communications AOL Europe, says:

Hamburg (PROTEXT) - "We welcome the chancellor's initiative todevelop the Internet into a mass medium in Germany. Meanwhile, weexpect that the price models roughly outlined by Deutsche Telekomtoday will not be available just to customers of their subsidiaryT-Online, but also to all other Online and Internet providers inGermany. AOL was the first Internet company in Germany to call for theintroduction of a flat rate, but has been prevented fromlaunching a flat rate by Deutsche Telekom's monopoly in the localtelephone market. In its Special Report of November 1999, the GermanGovernment's Monopoly Commission explicitly emphasized that thetelecommunications sector as a whole is not characterized byfunctional competition, and that strict regulation of thedominant provider is absolutely necessary in the interest ofconsumers." Frank Sarfeld Head of Corporate Communications AOL Europe About AOL Europe AOL Europe is Europe's leading Internet and e-commerceservices company, with a pan-European staff of more than 2,000.Through its successful multiple-brand strategy, AOL Europeoperates the leading AOL, CompuServe and Netscape Onlineservices, AOL Instant Messenger, AOL and CompuServe portals innine countries and four languages across Europe. AOL is theservice for the whole family, providing its members withinteractive education, entertainment, financial and informationcontent while giving access to a global online community.CompuServe is aimed at the corporate customer and 'newprofessional' user offering specialised information, large-scaledatabases and professional communication tools. Netscape Online,AOL Europe's subscription-free online service, is targeted at theUK 'value' sector and provides pure, high-performance Internetaccess. From the first service launch in 1995, AOL Europe's AOLand CompuServe membership base now surpasses 3.4 million acrossEurope and Netscape Online has more than 400,000 registrants inthe UK. AOL Europe S.A. is a joint venture between America OnlineInc. and Bertelsmann AG with a registered head office inLuxembourg and executive offices in London, UK and Hamburg,Germany. In headlines and stories, the proper usage of our corporatename is: "AOL Europe, a joint venture between America Online,Inc. and Bertelsmann AG," or "AOL UK, a division of AOL Europe."We appreciate strict adherence to this usage guide and to the"AOL Europe" corporate name. ots Original Text Service: AOLEurope Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de For furtherInformation, please contact: Frank Sarfeld, AOL Europe Tel: +4940 36159-226, Mobile: 0179 29 45 94 E-Mail: Sarfeld@aol.com

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