Press Release

mobilkom austria and ONE with paybox as shared m-payment solution

• ONE takes over one sixth of paybox austria shares from mobilkom austria
• Milestone for m-payment market in Austria: “paybox NEW“ becomes shared, cross-company m-payment solution
• Roughly 2 million A1 and ONE post-paid customers can automatically pay via their mobile phone bill – Austria’s payment solution for distance selling with the largest customer base has been created

The two mobile telephony operators mobilkom austria and ONE together with the mobile phone payment service paybox presented a significant milestone for the Austrian m-payment market on 5 October 2005.

ONE will have a one-sixth stake in paybox austria AG, which to date has been a 100 % subsidiary of mobilkom austria. The successful mobile phone payment service paybox will be operated and further expanded by both providers in future.

The close cooperation between A1 and ONE in mobile payment creates one of the first cross-company m-payment standards worldwide. This results in major advantages for both A1 and ONE customers as well as the Austrian retail business and will substantially boost m-payment in Austria.

More than two million A1 and ONE post-paid customers will be able to automatically use the m-commerce services of the other network operator respectively in future and conveniently pay by means of their mobile phone bills. Pre-paid customers, customers with company phones and customers of all other network operators can use paybox –as always– via direct debiting from their bank account. For all existing paybox customers the number of institutions accepting m-payment as well as the opportunities to use m-payment increase. For example, it will soon be possible for A1 and ONE customers to use mobile payment for parking or buying Coca Cola at vending machines via their mobile phone bills.

Hannes Ametsreiter, Director of Marketing, Distribution and Customer Services, mobilkom austria: "As technology leader, mobilkom austria was the first provider to commit to m-commerce and together with paybox assisted payment by mobile phone being accepted in Austria. The cooperative approach of mobilkom austria and ONE is a logical step and will further expand Austria’ role as international pioneer in m-commerce. At one fell swoop, a technically unified payment system has been created enabling roughly two million customers to make payments automatically."

Jørgen Bang-Jensen, CEO, ONE: "Following our big success and customers accepting payment via ONE service bill, we further expand the number of areas of use for our customers and retail partners with the ensuing interoperability with mobilkom Austria. Experience gathered by mobilkom austria and ONE to date, complement each other perfectly. Together we will further enlarge the Austrian market for mobile payment and with paybox offer a convenient and modern payment solution with numerous attractive areas of use to our customers."

Integration of existing m-payment systems and the associated billing interfaces of both providers will begin immediately upon approval by European authorities under the leadership of paybox chairman Jochen Punzet and a managing director to be appointed by ONE.

Jochen Punzet: "paybox has contributed considerably to making mobile phone payment popular in Austria. In future paybox will jointly handle mobile phone payments by A1 and ONE customers. "paybox New" expands its customer base tenfold and thereby offers its partners accepting mobile phone payment a low-risk investment. paybox, which enjoys a high level of trust among customers and retailers alike, will be further promoted as a cross-company brand for mobile phone payments."

Depending on when approval in the merger control procedure will be granted, joint, new offers are to be presented to the public in the second quarter of 2006. Until then there will no changes for existing customers and partners of the companies concerned regarding the payment process or the technical connection of accounting systems.