Millicom International Cellular S.A. Announces Continued Strong Subscriber Growth in the Fourth Quarter of 1999 - Company Business and Marketing

Cambridge Telcom Report, Jan 17, 2000

Millicom International Cellular S.A. (MIC) (Nasdaq: MICC), the worldwide cellular telephone operator, announced Wednesday that in the fourth quarter of 1999 its worldwide operations added a significant 195,084 net new cellular subscribers. As of December 31, 1999, MIC's worldwide cellular subscriber base increased by 53% to 2,110,548 cellular subscribers from 1,380,186 as of December 31, 1998. Proportional cellular subscribers grew by 60% to 1,321,327 cellular subscribers from 827,424.

As of December 31, 1999, Societe Europeenne de Communication (SEC), the joint venture presently owned 29.6 percent by MIC, reported a total of 2,931,173 fixed line customers representing an increase of 288% over the 755,988 customers announced at December 31, 1998.

Marc Beuls, MIC's President and CEO stated, "MIC reported a material 10% quarter-on-quarter increase in total subscribers, notably Sanbao Telecom reported a 12% quarter-on-quarter increase as a result of the successful launch in October of prepaid in Vietnam, the first offering of its type in the market resulting in a 25% increase in subscribers over the quarter. Other significant quarter-on-quarter subscriber increases included; El Salvador 11% in Latin America, Senegal 61% in Africa and particularly pleasing was a 15% increase in Russia, which reflected a positive trend across all of our Russian operations. We anticipate that the current year will also generate strong subscriber growth as a consequence of additional capacity in Latin America and an economic upturn in Asia and to a lesser extent Russia."

From December 31, 1998 to December 31, 1999, the Company's total cellular subscriber base grew to 2,110,548 subscribers, an increase of 53% from the 1,380,186 subscribers reported in 1998.

At December 31, 1999, MIC had 1,321,327 proportional cellular subscribers, an increase of 60% on the 827,424 proportional subscribers reported at December 31, 1998. Proportional subscribers are calculated as the sum of MIC's proportional ownership share of subscribers in each operation.

In addition, the Company has a 5.77% interest in NetCom A.B., the alternative provider of telecommunication services in Scandinavia, the Baltic region and Poland. NetCom's subscribers are not included in MIC's reported cellular subscriber numbers.

Net new cellular subscribers in the fourth quarter of 1999 grew by a substantial 195,084. Within the 2,110,548 cellular subscribers reported in the fourth quarter, 1,340,324 subscribers were prepaid customers, representing a 111% increase on the 635,659 prepaid subscribers recorded on December 31, 1998. Prepaid subscribers currently represent 95% of net new additions and 64% of gross reported cellular subscribers.

In the fourth quarter of 1999, MIC's six operations in Latin America added 83,435 net new cellular subscribers. Sanbao Telecom's seven operations added 70,932 net new cellular subscribers, with the operation in Vietnam adding 36,614 net new subscribers, driven by a successful October launch of prepaid. FORA Telecom has continued to experience more stability and the operation had an encouraging 15% growth in total subscribers over the quarter. MIC Africa continued to grow with the addition of 8,635 subscribers in the fourth quarter, the operation in Senegal accounted for 5,450 of the net new subscriber additions for the region.

Wireless Data Communication Operations

As of December 31, 1999, Tele2 (UK) Limited reported 701 wireless broadband connections in the UK supporting more than 2,300 users in the Thames Valley and Reading area compared to 459 wireless broadband connections in the prior quarter. Tele2 plans to roll out in a number of other UK cities in the near future. Based on encouraging results in the UK, MIC will look to roll out similar networks in markets where it has existing cellular networks and strong brand recognition.

MIC has recently built out its ISP business in Latin America and at the end of December 1999 reported in excess of 25,000 subscribers with a particularly strong presence in Central America. MIC will commence ISP services in its Asian markets during the year.

Fixed Line Operations

From December 31, 1998 to December 31, 1999, fixed line subscribers increased by 288% from 755,988 to 2,931,173 fixed line subscribers in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Italy and Luxembourg. The operation in Luxembourg was launched on October 29, 1999. Net new fixed line subscribers in the three months ended December 31, 1999 increased by 33% to 743,267 over the prior quarter. Fixed line subscribers include both Tele2 Europe S.A. and IntelliNet which is a wholly owned subsidiary of SEC selling residential routers.

Launch of services in a number of additional European countries is planned.

Millicom International Cellular S.A. is a leading developer and operator of cellular telephone services worldwide with operations in Asia, Latin America, Russia and Africa. It currently has interests in 30 operations in 19 countries. MIC's cellular operations have a combined population under license of approximately 465 million people. In addition, MIC operates the world's largest GSM clearing house and also has a 29.6% interest in Societe Europeenne de Communication S.A., an alternative provider of fixed line national and international long distance telephony services in Europe. SEC currently has licenses to operate fixed services in 8 European countries, of which 7 are currently operational, together with 2 European cellular licenses, of which one is operational. The Company's shares are traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol MICC. FMI: http://www.millicom.com.