Press Release

ONE HELPS FLOOD VICTIMS

• ONE collects money for Caritas and supports the Ö3 SMS collection campaign
• ONE gives employees time off for relief actions
• Largely stable network in the areas affected by the flood

ONE customers and employees can now donate money to the Caritas collection for flood victims quickly and uncomplicatedly through collecting boxes in 44 ONE Worlds and the ONE Headquarters. The proceeds of this collections will be doubled by ONE.

Between August 14 and September 13, 2002, ONE subscription and pre-paid customers can furthermore donate money via SMS to the Ö3 immediate flood relief campaign. Employees affected by the flood catastrophe or members of relief and rescue organisations are given paid special leave for the duration required. Thanks to foresighted network planning and the strenuous endeavours of the ONE network employees, the ONE network in the flooded areas only registered a few short-time failures.

Today all ONE subscription and pre-paid customers will receive an SMS calling for Caritas donations. ONE customers and employees may donate money for the victims of the flood catastrophe quickly and uncomplicatedly through donations to the PSK account 7700 004 “Hochwasser” (flood) or one of the collecting boxes in the 44 ONE Worlds or the ONE Headquarters. The proceeds of this collection will be doubled by ONE and transferred to the Caritas donations account.

ONE customers can also donate money via SMS: With every SMS ONE subscription or pre-paid customers send to the Ö3 hotline 0800 600 600, they donate € 10.- to the Ö3 immediate flood relief campaign.

ONE employees help flood victims

ONE employees who are members of relief and rescue organisations in the areas affected by the flood and are needed there, as well as employees needed by their families for protection or clearing activities will be given paid special leave for the duration required. By giving time off to these employees, ONE intends to support rapid and active relief work.

From the beginning, our top-priority goal was to keep mobile communication functioning. The affected areas merely registered a few short-time network failures. More than 80 percent of the ONE transmitter installations are connected by directive transmission; the ONE network is thus hardly affected by the current line failures. ONE could also avoid large-scale network failures in the flooded regions and thus maintain communication between victims and the relief and rescue teams through the strenuous endeavours of the ONE network employees. Locations that can be reached without danger, as the water retreats, are repaired as soon as possible, and wherever the breakdown of the network is attributable to longer-term power failures, these are tided over by emergency generators at the first opportunity.