Yahoo! Instant Messenger for SMS Now Available to Wataniya Subscribers

Business Wire, July 15, 2002

Business/High-Tech Editors

Wataniya Telecom, Kuwait's leading mobile telecommunication company, and Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading Internet communications and media company, today announced that they have entered into a strategic agreement to offer state-of-the-art mobile applications to Wataniya subscribers.

The Chairman of Wataniya Telecom, Faisal Al-Ayyar, said that "This alliance with Yahoo! will surely boost Wataniya Telecom's position in the Middle East region as a leader in providing state-of-the-art mobile technology. This agreement comes as part of Wataniya Telecom's strategy to provide its customers with advanced information, media, and Internet services and applications using mobile handsets, in collaboration with leading world companies such as Yahoo!."

S. I. Lee, Regional Vice President Yahoo! South Asia, said, "We are delighted to partner with Wataniya Telecom to offer "Yahoo! for SMS" services to their subscribers in Kuwait. Yahoo! users will be able to access Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Mail and other services through their Wataniya mobile phones. We look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship with Wataniya Telecom that brings added convenience to users in Kuwait."

The "Yahoo! for SMS" offerings for India, Middle East and West Asia are being managed out of India. On the occasion, Deepak Chandnani, Country Head, Yahoo! India commented, "We have identified and developed a new revenue stream in SMS based offerings to mobile users in India and in the Middle East. These services are currently offered to subscribers of Orange, Hutch, Command, Celforce and Escotel in India and are very popular with the users. This is a part of our ongoing strategy to diversify our revenue streams and bring to our users Yahoo! services on devices of their choice.

Wataniya Telecom announced that the offerings will include the widely popular Yahoo! Messenger service, which will allow mobile phone users (through SMS) to communicate with their friends on their Yahoo! Messenger buddy list. This offering will allow users to communicate seamlessly and instantly across devices like PCs and mobile phones, and is the first of its kind for Kuwait.

For more information on the service Wataniya's customers can send a SMS with the word HELP and send it to 1411 or just visit the company's site www.wataniya.com or the co-branded site http://wataniya.yahoo.com.