Telekom Austria Group Closed the Acquisition of Bulgarian Mobiltel

VIENNA, Austria, July 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Telekom Austria (VSE: TKA ; NYSE: TKA) announced today, that it has closed the acquisition of Mobiltel AD, the leading Bulgarian wireless operator. Telekom Austria Group has acquired 100% of Mobiltel for a total consideration (Enterprise Value) of up to EUR 1,600 million following the signing of a share purchase agreement on June 1, 2005. Mobiltel has been acquired from a consortium of Austrian and international financial investors. Mobiltel will be consolidated into Telekom Austria's wireless segment from July 12, 2005.

Heinz Sundt, CEO of Telekom Austria: "I am pleased to announce the conclusion of the acquisition of Mobiltel, the largest Bulgarian telecommunications provider, and to welcome the company into the Telekom Austria Group. This successful closing fills me with pride especially because this is the largest acquisition ever carried out by an Austrian company."

Preparations for integration of Mobiltel have already started in February, when mobilkom austria, the wireless subsidiary of the Telekom Austria Group, formed a strategic core team under the leadership of Josef Vinatzer (formerly CEO of VIPnet) to ensure smooth ownership transition and integration of the company into the wireless operations.

"The acquisition of Mobiltel is an important step in our expansion in South-Eastern Europe. This will enable us to broaden our network and offer our solutions to more than 8 million mobile customers," said Boris Nemsic, COO Wireless Telekom Austria and CEO mobilkom austria.

Following the closing Josef Vinatzer was appointed CEO of Mobiltel. The management board of Mobiltel will further consist of Thomas Klemenschits as Chief Technology Officer and Roland Haidner, who will be responsible for Strategy, Projects and Integration. In addition to his current position as Chief Marketing Officer of mobilkom austria Hannes Ametsreiter will serve as interim CMO at Mobiltel. All have extensive experience within mobilkom austria and its international operations. In order to guarantee continuity, Mark Eckhout, Chief Financial Officer, and Nikoly Nikolov, member of the management board responsible for legal and regulator affairs, will remain on the management board.

The Telekom Austria Group views Mobiltel as an excellent asset in a growth market. The company has managed to build a strong customer base and to develop a market position that absolutely fits the Telekom Austria Group's profile. As of June 30, 2005 Mobiltel had more than 3.2 million subscribers, making it the largest mobile communications operator in Bulgaria. As of 31 March 2005[1], subscriber figures amounted to 3.14 million and market share to approximately 63.9%. In 1Q 2005 the company generated revenues and EBITDA of EUR 119 million and EUR 80 million, respectively. Lehman Brothers and Raiffeisen Investment AG advised Telekom Austria on this transaction.

[1] Source: Mobiltel, Mobiltel's pro forma financials for Q1 2005 according to IFRS can be accessed at http://www.mtel.bg/mobiltel/about/financials.php

Contacts: Elisabeth Mattes Head of Corporate Communications at mobilkom Austria Tel: +43-(0)1-33161-2730 E-Mail: e.mattes@mobilkom.at Peter E. Zydek Head of Investor Relations at Telekom Austria Tel: +43-(0)590591-19001 Email: peter.zydek@telekom.at