EuroTel Reports 1,000% Increase in Christmas Messaging

PRAGUE, the Czech Republic — Christmas wishes using SMS (short message service) were sent and received by EuroTel users in record numbers, both in the Czech Republic and 76 other countries around the world.

EuroTel Praha, the leading provider of mobile phone service in the Czech Republic, flawlessly processed approximately two million short messages on Christmas Eve, representing a 1,000% increase over last Christmas Eve.

EuroTel Managing Director Ed Kingman noted that not all mobile operators worldwide were able to handle the extraordinarily high Christmas volume.

"While EuroTel delivered to its customers flawless messaging, other networks were overloaded and many Christmas wish messages could not be delivered," said Kingman.

Kingman credits EuroTel's reliability and performance during the Christmas season to the company's ongoing multi-billion-crown investment in quality and coverage enhancements. "We will continue to expand on our investment to meet the needs of our more than one million customers," he added.

EuroTel Praha Ltd is the Czech Republic's largest wireless service provider with more than 1,000,000 customers. EuroTel's high quality GSM and T!P mobile phone networks cover a territory with 99 percent of the Czech Republic's population of more than 10 million people. EuroTel operates more than 2,000 cell sites providing stronger signals, better reception, and higher quality indoor coverage in most buildings throughout the country.

Only EuroTel offers SuperSound which provides the clearest sounding calls throughout the Czech Republic. The company provides voice and data services and EuroTel NetCall-55, a service that offers customers international calling at discounts of up to 65%.

EuroTel Praha is a joint venture of SPT Telecom Inc. (51%) and Atlantic West B.V. (49%). Atlantic West B.V. is equally owned by Bell Atlantic (NYSE:BEL) and MediaOne International, which is a part of MediaOne Group (NYSE:UMG).

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