London, 28 June 2004— Broadband steady growth in non-EU Europe.

During the three months ended March 31, 2004, the Eastern Europe political and economic situation showed evidence of a pick up in overall activity.

In the meantime, the telecommunications sector saw the advent of the era of full-fledged broadband services, the number of subscribers topping 1.3 million in step with the dissemination of the Internet in everyday life, fuelled by rapid technological breakthroughs, market demand that is becoming ever more advanced and diverse, and lower rates for broadband services amid intensifying competition among carriers. All this contributed to greater opportunity and at the same time brought on competition from American and Western Europe companies to move quickly to take their slices of the market