Press Releases

ONE survey

Licence

In August 1997, Connect Austria received the 3rd mobile licence for the construction of the first Austrian 1800 MHz network. The licence fee amounted to 2.3 billion ATS.

Investments

Connect Austria will invest 12.5 billion schillings until the year 2000. This is the biggest private investment in Austria since 1945. The project was already fully financed before market entry. In July, project financing for 7.5 bn ATS was syndicated (own capital: 5 bn ATS). Additionally, Connect Austria is offering Austrian investors silent partnerships, in order to gain financial room for interesting projects. The silent partnership will be issued in 1998 and 1999 in parts of 500 million ATS each.

Staff

Connect Austria presently has 900 employees. By the year 2000 this number will rise to 1,100. Besides its head office in Vienna, the company has regional offices in Graz, Linz, Klagenfurt, Salzburg, and Innsbruck.

Market entry

Regional start
July 1998 in Tyrol and Vorarlberg, population coverage by now 71 %

National start
October 26, 1998 under the name ONE, with 80 % coverage in the cities and along major traffic routes, and 60 % coverage nation-wide

Coverage
80 % of the Austrian population by the end of 1998
over 90 % of the population by summer 1999

Services
Pricing plans ONE Classic and ONE Business

Mobile telephony with crystal clear voice quality at fixed-line prices
Prepaid card Take ONE: on-net calls round the clock, 7 days a week, for one schilling per minute

Shareholders

RHI Telekom Gesellschaft m.b.H. (20.10 %)
VIAG Connect Ges. F. Telekommunikation GmbH (20 %)
Telenor Invest AS (17.45 %)
Orange plc (17.45 %)
Tele Danmark A/S (15 %)
Constantia Telecom Beteiligungs GmbH (10 %)

Managing Board

Jørgen Bang-Jensen, MBA (CEO)
Lars P. Reichelt, Lic. Oec. HSG (COO)
Dr. Eduard Zehetner (CFO)