Orascom Wins N Korea LicenseOrascom Wins N Korea License

CAIRO, Egypt -- Orascom Telecom Holding S.A.E. (“OTH” or “Orascom Telecom”)announced today that it has been granted the first commercial license to provide mobiletelephony services in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (“DPRK”) using WCDMA (3G)technology.

The license was granted to OTH’s subsidiary CHEO Technology JV Company (“CHEO”) which iscontrolled by Orascom Telecom with an ownership of 75% while the remaining 25% is owned bythe state owned Korea Post and Telecommunications Corporation. The terms of the licenseallows CHEO to offer services to its customer throughout the country, the duration of the licenseis 25 years with an exclusivity period of four years. Orascom Telecom intends to invest up toUS$400 million in network infrastructure and license fee over the first three years in order torapidly deploy a high quality network and offer voice, data and value added services at accessibleprices to the Korean people. OTH intends to cover Pyongyang and most of the major cities duringthe first 12 months of operations.

The DPRK has a population of approximately 23 million of which 67% is between the age of 15and 64 years, moreover, there is currently no mobile services in the country. The operation in theDPRK will complement OTH’s existing operations in Asia and will further enhance OTH’s positionas the leading GSM operator in the emerging markets.

Naguib Sawiris, Chairman & CEO, Orascom Telecom, stated “We are continuing to head in theright strategic direction; our Greenfield license in the DPRK is in line with our strategy topenetrate countries with high population and low penetration by providing the first mobiletelephony services. OTH has consistently proved its ability to successfully roll out mobileservices into countries where no other operator has. OTH will continue to increase shareholdervalue and maintain its leadership in the markets it operates in.”

Orascom Telecom