| Press Release |
| For more information contact: Orange Israel Partner Communications Company Ltd. Dr. Dan Eldar VP Carrier, International and Investor Relations Tel. +972 67-814151 dan.eldar@orange.co.il Or TOGEWAnet AG Bruno Chiarelli Tel. +41 31 341 1138 bruno.chiarelli@togewanet.com For Immediate Release |
| Partner Communications Company Ltd., operating the orange™ network in Israel, partners with WeRoam® |
| Partner Communications Company Ltd., to launch WeRoam® Services |
| Berne, Switzerland 2 December 2003. Partner Communications Company Ltd., leading Israeli mobile operator and operating the orange™ network in Israel, partners with WeRoam® to launch WLAN Roaming for its subscribers. Through this significant step, instant access to a footprint of more than 7000 contracted WLAN hotspots worldwide is granted to orange™ subscribers roaming abroad, by means of simply identifying themselves with their existing GSM SIM card in any of the chosen hotspots. Connecting to WeRoam®, the open WLAN Roaming platform, adds a broadband service to the existing portfolio of services offered by Partner Communications Company Ltd.,, positioning the company once again in the forefront of cellular technologies and customer service. Connecting the WeRoam® platform to the core network of Partner Communications Company Ltd., was a straightforward project, realized in the shortest time possible due to standard GSM interfaces used. Full reuse of the mobile operators existing provisioning systems for operation, billing and customer care is another major advantage of the WeRoam® solution – no new procedures and no high investments are required to launch the services. The customer will receive a complete WLAN roaming usage listing and will be able to benefit from high speed WLAN connectivity while far from home or office. Dan Eldar, VP Carrier and International Relations at Partner Communications Company Ltd. said today that ”Partner Communications Company Ltd., is proud to pioneer this cutting edge new service to its roaming subscribers, that expect worldwide data connectivity in thousands of hotspots around the world, benefiting from the seamless connection to fast internet accessing a world of office, entertainment and information applications without the need to go through a painful and uncertain identification and authorization process. Using the SIM card as the means to gain access to thousands of hotspots creates a hassle free environment that frequent travelers expect and appreciate. Partner Communications Company Ltd., believes that WeRoam®'s service and technology is the optimal route to providing WLAN roaming services and exciting user experience. Joseph Keleher Vice President Sales & Marketing at WeRoam®, says: “The easiness of the project roll-out underlines the technological leadership and readiness of the standards implemented in WeRoam®. It also confirms once more that SIM based authentication is key for international WLAN roaming by automatically supporting all relevant procedures for roaming, fraud prevention, billing and clearing.” About Partner Communications Company Ltd. , Partner Communications Company Ltd. is a leading Israeli mobile communications operator known for its GSM/GPRS based services and the development of wire free applications under the preferred orange™ brand. Partner Communications Company Ltd., applies cutting edge technologies, enabling its customers to benefit from excellent voice quality, superb customer service, nation-wide coverage and a range of services specifically designed to provide communication solutions for residential and business customers alike. Partner Communications Company Ltd., commenced full commercial operations in January 1999 and by September 30, 2003 had over two million subscribers, representing an estimated 31% of the cellular market in Israel. The Company uses its competitive GSM advantage to provide its customers seamless roaming in 123 countries worldwide, using over 277 networks. The Company also provides roaming services to thousands of customers roaming on its network in Israel daily. The Company has been awarded a 3G license in 2002. About WeRoam® WeRoam® is the trading name of Swiss company TOGEWAnet AG. Established in 2001 and owned by TOGEWA Holding and Infonet Services Corporation, WeRoam® specializes in mobility management and roaming optimization solutions for the mobile and wireless telecommunications sector. The WeRoam® service facilitates the seamless integration of WLAN and GSM network technologies, enabling global roaming for WLAN services and thereafter facilitating automatic and secures roaming between WLAN, GSM and GPRS. Key solutions found in GSM technology have been adopted to make up the WeRoam® service, which provides secure authentication, signaling conversion, clearing and settlement services (based on TAP - Transferred Account Procedure) and management of contractual roaming agreements. This positions WeRoam® as the only open roaming platform supporting all relevant authentication methods for WLAN Roaming such as SIM, Radius and EAP SIM. Registration is pending to patent WeRoam®' innovative SIM based WLAN Roaming technology. The subscriber will benefit from greater roaming coverage and the convenience of swapping between different standards with the additional advantage of having a single identity, thus receiving only one bill from his home network operator despite having visited a number of operators and countries and having used different mobile standards. Close ties with its' sister company, Comfone AG, also founded by the umbrella company of TOGEWA Group, allow TOGEWAnet to benefit from Comfone' depth of experience in offering a wide range of roaming services to GSM operators. For more information, please visit www.weroam.com |
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