Eesti Telekom                 NEWS RELEASE                      03/27/2002



TELIA AND SONERA PLAN TO MERGE



On Tuesday 26 March Sonera of Finland and Telia of Sweden, 

the major shareholders of Eesti Telekom, announced that they 

are to merge. Telia will make a purchase offer to the 

shareholders of Sonera, offering 1.51440 Telia shares for 

one Sonera share. The merger of the two companies will 

create the leading telecommunications group in Scandinavia 

and the Baltic States. 



The plan for the merger of Sonera and Telia will be presented 

to the European Union for approval. EU will in turn make its 

decision within a few months. 



After the merger, the combined group will possess a 49% share 

in Eesti Telekom. In the assessment of Jaan Männik, Chairman 

of the Management Board of Eesti Telekom, the merger of the 

major shareholders is positive news for Eesti Telekom, although 

it will not influence the group's commercial activities 

immediately, since Telia and Sonera must first agree on the 

new joint company's management structure and appoint 

corresponding managers. According to Männik, in the Baltics 

the merged company will seek synergy, efficiency, cost 

reduction, market expansion and growth.





Kadri Lensment

assistant manager

+372 6311 212