Swisscom as Innovative and Future- oriented Value-added Service Provider

GENEVA (PROTEXT) - At Telecom 99 in Geneva, Swisscom hasannounced its intention to exploit the growth areas intelecommunications: mobile telecommunications, integratedsolutions and e-commerce. Mobile services are a focal point of Swisscom's appearance atTelecom 99 in Geneva. In the booming and competitive Swisstelecoms market, Swisscom intends to maintain its competitiveedge by providing customers with the latest products inconvergence technology. High Speed Circuit-Switched Data is thetechnology behind NATEL Office Link, the Swisscom businessproduct which lets the user "take the office on the road". In the first weeks of the new millennium, Swisscom customerswill be able to enjoy the benefits of WAP (Wireless ApplicationProtocol) on their mobile phones. WAP convergence technologyunites the Internet with the mobile phone. All Swisscom mobilecustomers, from Natel easy to Natel International, can profit.Swisscom will present WAP services and announce additional WAPtechnology products during Telecom 99. Swisscom's Strategic Direction At the company's press conference at Telecom 99, Swisscom CEO,Tony Reis pointed to two megatrends taking place in today'sglobal telecommunications market. First, companies are realisingthat their greatest asset is their relationship with thecustomer. Second, operators are becoming increasingly aware ofthe growing over-capacity of infrastructure; the deconstructionof the value chain in telecommunications; and, at the same time,the growing demand for merging technologies: convergence.According to Tony Reis, the result of the convergence of fixed-network and mobile telephony is that voice traffic isincreasingly being transmitted via the mobile network. This meansthat the fixed network can, in future, be used more and more forbroadband transmission, such as multimedia. Tony Reis isconvinced that "growth potential for Swisscom lies particularlyin the areas of mobile telephony, integrated communicationssolutions, and E-commerce." To take advantage of these growthareas, Swisscom will look to increase its customer base abroad;set up a broadband infrastructure and make it available to thirdparties; and differentiate itself in the market throughcompetitive products and services. Swisscom Announces Mobile HSCSD Product Addressing the mobile market, Calvin Grieder, Head of SwisscomProduct House, announced that Swisscom had taken a step into thefuture with the introduction of the High Speed Circuit SwitchedData product, NATEL Office Link. Calvin Grieder said thatSwisscom sees its role as being "the preferred value-addedservice provider in the Heart of Europe". To that end, Swisscomis one of the first providers of the kind of service packageoffered by NATEL Office Link. This service provides customerswith a host of new applications in the field of mobile datatransmission. NATEL Office Link, with transmission ratescomparable to ISDN, connects the laptops of travelling businesspeople with their company's Intranet or LAN. The product isdesigned to provide data services to those people who arefrequently on the road for business and require quick access tocompany files and information on the Internet. All of the classicInternet applications are available using NATEL Office Link, suchas sending and receiving e-mails, access to confidential datawhich should not be stored on laptops, extraction of largequantities of data from handbooks or software for example, andrapid Internet access. NATEL Office Link guarantees comprehensivesecurity on the server and user equipment. Swisscom Announces Wireless Application Protocol for the NewMillennium As a leading provider of telecommunications services, Swisscomhas been aware of the growing interest in and applications forWAP, wireless application protocol. WAP technology broadensopportunities for E-commerce by allowing you to access theInternet from your mobile phone: specially formatted pages on theInternet can be called up any time, anywhere. Swisscom announcedthat in the first weeks of the New Year all Swisscom mobilecustomers, from NATEL easy to NATEL International, will be ableto enjoy the benefits of WAP. WAP is a logical progression fromthe well-known NATEL InfoService, with the Internet being used asthe transmission medium instead of SMS (Short Message Service).WAP enables various possibilities: regardless of time and placeyou will be able to call up information on public transport,cinemas, concerts and other leisure activities. You will also beable to shop electronically and carry out bank transactions --all via mobile phone. Swisscom will unveil more on mobile bankingduring Telecom 99. The first WAP phones will be on the marketthis year. Swisscom will be one of the first providers in Europeto offer Internet access from a mobile phone. NATEL Roaming InfoService At Telecom 99, Walter Heutschi, Head of Swisscom Mobile,announced that Swisscom has affirmed its position as world'sleader in mobile roaming with the introduction of Swisscom'sNATEL Roaming InfoService. NATEL Roaming InfoService allowsSwisscom mobile customers travelling abroad even more freedom ofchoice. For calls to Switzerland, the prices of the differentnational operators in the countries where Swisscom mobilecustomers may be travelling can be called up and compared, thusgiving customers choice and saving them money. Comparing pricesby mobile phone with NATEL InfoService is as simple as calling upsports results, or stock prices on the mobile phone display. SMSwill deliver the price comparisons in seconds. Swisscom - Official Sponsor of Telecom 99 As official supplier, Swisscom, with its partners, hasequipped the Palexpo site with an IP (Internet Protocol) networkthat is noted in Europe for its performance and flexibility. Thenetwork will be used by nearly 1000 exhibitors from around theworld. In addition to the IP network, the permanent infrastructure ofthe GSM 900 and GSM 1800 mobile networks in the exhibition hallshas been considerably enhanced: it now provides equivalentcapacity for a town of 60,000 inhabitants. At the beginning of1999, existing capacity was multiplied by six thanks to anadditional eleven GSM 900 Mhz and four GSM 1800 Mhz cells. otsOriginal Text Service: Swisscom AG Internet:http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Swisscom Media Relations,+41-31-342-91-93, or fax, +41-31-342-06-70 Web site:http://www.swisscom.com

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