NEW YORK and STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Dec. 23, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Tele2 AB, ("Tele2"), (Nasdaq:TLTOA) (Nasdaq:TLTOB) and (Stockholmsborsen: TEL2A and TEL2B), the leading alternative pan-European telecommunications company, today announced that the local Swedish tax authority has repeated its decision to change Tele2's taxation for the fiscal year 2001. Tele2 is still convinced the requested deduction will be approved and intends to appeal the decision to the County Administrative Court.
Hakan Zadler, CFO of Tele2 said; "A year ago, when the tax authority announced that it wanted to change Tele2's taxation for the fiscal year 2001, we said that it was expected given the significant amount of money involved. However, we considered it strange that this judgment was made in reference to the absence of a real devaluation of SEC, despite the fact that an independent valuation obtained by Tele2 as well as valuations made by analysts in the financial market and others showed that the value of SEC in fact had declined.
Tele2 chose to ask for a review of the local tax authority's decision in order for the same tax authority to explain the reasoning behind its decision. The local tax authority has now completed this. Nothing has emerged that would change our view, that we can meet the demands for proof which may be required in this matter. We are still convinced that the requested deduction will in the end be approved, and consequently we will appeal the decision to the County Administrative Court."
Appendix: Press release from December 16, 2003
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Tele2 is Europe's leading and profitable alternative telecom operator. Tele2 always strives to offer the market's best prices. With our unique values, we provide cheap and simple telecom for all Europeans every day. We have close to 26 million customers in 24 countries. We offer products and services in fixed and mobile telephony, Internet access, data networks, cable TV and content services. Our main competitors are the former government monopolies. Tele2 was founded in 1993 by Jan Stenbeck and has been listed on Stockholmsborsen since 1996. The share has also been listed on Nasdaq since 1997. In 2003 we had operating revenue of SEK 36,911 million and reported a profit of SEK 5,710 million (EBITDA).
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