Europe : Siemens will be supplying equipment for building Romania's first W-CDMA network for the country's largest mobile network operator, Connex.

Inset is Christoph Caselitz, President of the Siemens Mobile Networks Division quoted below.

Following a successful test phase, Romanian mobile operator Connex has contracted with the Siemens Communications Group to supply and install W-CDMA radio and core equipment. This will make Connex the first network operator in Romania to offer mobile broadband services. For Siemens, it marks the third W-CDMA contract from Eastern Europe. 90 % of all W-CDMA subscribers worldwide are already communicating over 3G technology from Siemens and its partner NEC.

"For more than four years, Siemens has been one of our most important partners in building our mobile networks. We want to take advantage of its experience and innovative technology to become Romania's first W-CDMA provider and strengthen our position as the operator of the leading network in the country," said Connex Vice President and CTO Vishant Vora.

"Thanks to what is now our third W-CDMA contract from Eastern Europe, we will be able to further strengthen our market position in this region and our world market leadership - together with NEC - as a supplier of 3G technology," said Christoph Caselitz, President of the Mobile Networks Division at Siemens Communications. Following Poland and Slovenia, Romania will now be the third country in Eastern Europe to see a W-CDMA network go into commercial operation.

Connex is the leader of the Romanian mobile telecommunication market and one of the strongest companies in the country. Connex had over 4.910.000 customers as of December 31, 2004, and continues to be the country's most important Internet service provider. The main shareholders of Connex are two mobile communications leaders: Telesystem International Wireless (TIW), Canada, and Vodafone, UK. For more details, please visit www.connex.ro

Siemens Communications is one of the largest players in the global telecommunications industry. Siemens is the only provider in the market that offers its customers a full-range portfolio, from devices for end users to complex network infrastructures for enterprises and carriers as well as related services. Siemens Communications is the world's innovation leader in convergent technologies, products and services for wireless, fixed and enterprise networks. It is the largest Group within Siemens and operates in more than 160 countries around the world. In fiscal 2004 (year-end September 30), its 60,000-strong workforce posted sales of approximately 18 billion euros.