4 July, 2005
Fonecta acquires Pohjanmaan PPO directory operations

Fonecta Ltd and Pohjanmaan PPO Oy, part of Finnet Group, have finalized a business transaction, in which PPO sold the printed directory operations to Fonecta. The object of the transaction was PPO's share of the OUKA directories that are published in the regions of Oulu-Koillismaa, Kainuu and Ostrobothnia.

Earlier this year Fonecta has purchased the share of Oulun Puhelin and Kajaanin Puhelinosuuskunta in the OUKA directory. The OUKA 2006 directories will be published in October by Fonecta Ltd in close collaboration with the regional telecom operators. The print will be approximately 230,000.

“The sale requires no action by the subscribers. The traditional phone directory will be available to subscribers free of charge, as usual. We have now acquired the printed directory operations of sixteen different companies, nine of them this year. The critical success factors in printed directory business are content production and media sales. Those are not necessarily the core competence areas of telecom operators,” says Heikki Jämsänen, CEO of Fonecta Ltd.

The telephone directory has long traditions in Ostrobothnia. The telephone directory of Keski-Pohjanmaa telephone co-operative was first published in 1936.

Close co-operation between PPO and Fonecta will continue after the sale. The near future will see deeper and broader co-operation in both printed and electronic directory services between the two companies.

“PPO will focus on its core business, telecommunications and IT, and the development and provision of related products and services. The printed directory business is in transition: competition is getting tougher by the day, which will lead to concentration of business. This was the right time for the sale. PPO and Fonecta have a long history of collaboration and we know that the OUKA directory is in good hands,” says Pauli Korpi-Tassi, CEO of PPO Oy.

The OUKA phone book is used by 90 per cent of the region's residents at home and 91 per cent in the workplace. Over 93 percent of users were satisfied with the OUKA phone book. Source: TNS Gallup, Puhelinluetteloiden bränditutkimus (brand survey on telephone directories), March 2004,

All directory information provided in the OUKA phone book will also be available from nation-wide operator-assisted directory services, including directory numbers 118 and 02 02 02. The regional phone companies provide the 118 service to their subscribers. Fonecta provides the 118 service to fixed-line and mobile phone subscribers of operators such as Sonera and Saunalahti. Last year, nearly 50 million calls were made to domestic operator-assisted directory services, of which the share of Fonecta and Finnet Group was approximately 75 percent.

Further information:

Fonecta Ltd, Heikki Jämsänen, CEO, tel. +358 20 442 2100

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