Dolphin Telecom, Motorola Unite for European TETRA Deployment

Through its Dolphin Telecom PLC subsidiary, Telesystem International Wireless Inc. and Motorola Inc. have formed a strategic relationship for the deployment of TETRA in Europe.

The agreement includes infrastructure and handset business agreements valued at more than US$400 million for the deployment of a digital wireless communications network in Germany and the purchase of up to 400,000 second-generation TETRA handsets from Motorola. The relationship represents Motorola's largest agreement to date for the deployment of TETRA. Work on the German nationwide network will begin immediately and initial services are targeted to be available in 2000.

In conjunction with the infrastructure contract, Dolphin's German subsidiary, Dolphin Telecom (Deutschland) GmbH, obtained a vendor-facilitated DM800 million (approximately US$450 million) debt financing commitment to fund the rollout of Dolphin's wireless network in Germany and associated working capital requirements, as well as a bridge financing of up to $125 million to fund Dolphin's investment in Germany. The various financing commitments are subject to the completion of certain conditions including the negotiation and execution of definitive agreements and the receipt of certain approvals.

Dolphin already is deploying TETRA networks in both the UK and France and expects to launch initial commercial ESMR services during 1999. Dolphin's German TETRA infrastructure contract, which represents Dolphin's first infrastructure agreement with Motorola, will facilitate the creation of a seamless digital wireless network among the three countries in the year 2000.