The use of SMS services has increased in volume over the last couple of years and Sweden is among the countries at the forefront of developments in this area. As more and more people become familiar with using mobile phones for more than just calls, Telia Mobile is seeing an increase in the demand for mobile information services. SMS will evolve from a fun add-on service into a technology enabling companies deploying these services to derive substantial business benefits.

"Easy access to the Internet is becoming a reality for an increasing number of people. There was a large increase in mobile traffic, SMS included, throughout 1999, and this trend looks set to continue long into the new millennium," said Erik Hallberg, Marketing & Sales Manager at Telia Mobile. "SMS is an excellent technology for sending custom-made time-critical information, especially for businesses needing to inform customers of any change of plans. In the future, WAP services will enable these services to be increasingly interactive."

Customised business information
This new technology is mainly targeted at Telia Mobiles business customers dependent on the ability to reach their users or customers with information on business events when and where it is needed. Categoric Software has developed technology to enable time-critical information messaging via SMS. Using these new services, users can get information about the areas that are of greatest interest to them. An unexpected event will trigger an SMS to be sent to a target group, informing them of the incident, and as a result the recipient has complete control over, for example, information about where his goods are in the supply chain or his postponed onward flight.

"All businesses have a need to reach their key customers with time-critical information even at the most inopportune times," said Thorgeir Einarsson, CEO and one of the founders of Categoric Software. "With our mobile e-business Alert technology, businesses can quickly and effectively build up useful wireless services for their customers, complementing their existing e-commerce products and services, and offer mobile contact with a target group 24 hours a day. This type of proactive wireless service is going to be more and more in demand from both consumers and business customers, who are looking to receive an automatic and intelligent flow of information from distributors and other service organisations."

Last autumn, Telia Mobile launched the worlds first WAP-portal in a partnership with Nokia and Oracle and the agreement with Categoric marks a further step in the development of mobile information services.

About Telia
Telia are the leading supplier of telecom-based information services in the Nordic/Baltic region. It is at the same time delivering seamless pan-European and global services through powerful alliances and partnerships in Europe and around the world. Its annual turnover in 1998 reached 51 240M SEK, and its employees numbered approximately 30 600.

About Categoric Software
Categoric Software has redefined the delivery of high value, time critical business information to standard wireless and wireline devices through a unique Enterprise Alert technology that works on top of all existing corporate systems, targeted at the extended supply chain inherent in all businesses. Categorics e-business Alerts enable organisations to transform themselves into event-driven e-businesses with the delivery of smart interactive Alerts to the worlds growing wireless and wireline e-business population and opens up new communications channels between companies and their customers, staff and partners. Categoric delivers personalised, interactive Alerts to standard communications devices - including mobile - at any time and from any combination of data sources inside a firewall. Categorics alliance partners deliver support by providing and building Wireless and Wireline Applications for specific vertical industries. The company was founded in 1996 and has dual headquarters in Sterling, VA, USA, and London, UK, with offices in Leatherhead, UK, Mannheim, Germany and San Francisco, USA. For additional information about Categoric visit its Web site at http://www.categoric.com, call +44 (0)1372 824440 or e-mail [email protected].

Categoric Alerts is a registered trademark of Categoric Software Corporation. All other trade names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

For more information please contact:

Sue Liggett
European marketing Manager,
Categoric Software
Tel: (+44) 1372 824440
email: [email protected]

Duncan McKean
AxiCom
Tel: (+44) 208 600 4607
email: [email protected]

Erik Hallberg
VP Sales and Marketing,
Telia Mobile
Tel: (+46) 70 658 1616

Hakan Strom
Public Relations Manager, Telia Mobile
Tel: (+46) 70 555 8000
email: [email protected]