ABU DHABI, UAE, OSLO, Norway and ROCKVILLE, Maryland – Telenor Satellite Services and Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Company today announced that Telenor will begin offering Thuraya products and services throughout Telenor’s global distribution network.

Established in 1997, Thuraya is a regional mobile satellite system that provides satellite telephone services to a region covering 110 countries in Europe, North, Central Africa and large parts Southern Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia.

Under the terms of the distribution agreement, Telenor now offers ThurayaDSL Services, in addition to Thuraya’s standard handheld satellite communications services.

“The addition of Thuraya services to Telenor’s portfolio further strengthens and complements our current menu of ‘on demand’ mobile satellite services,” said Tore Hilde, chief executive officer of Telenor Satellite Services. “Our partnership with Thuraya adds unique value with an established quality of service that we can market globally through our worldwide network of Telenor Service Providers.”

Thuraya’s CEO Yousuf Al Sayed added: “Thuraya always puts a premium on the quality of the service providers it selects, as they remain the vital link that connects the company to its customers. We are pleased that Telenor has joined Thuraya’s service provider network and recognize their considerable telecom expertise and infrastructure.”

Thuraya’s wide range of services includes voice, data, facsimile and GSM short messaging service throughout its coverage region.

Telenor also now offers ThurayaDSL, providing “always on” high-speed GPRS packet data services using a notebook-sized satellite IP modem for communications up to 144 kbps. ThurayaDSL provides corporate customers, government agencies, news gathering organizations and non-government organizations (NGOs) cost-effective communications via satellite for remote Internet connections.

Telenor Satellite Services is a subsidiary of Telenor ASA of Norway, listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (TEL) and NASDAQ (TELN).

About Telenor: Headquartered in Oslo, Norway, Telenor is an international provider of high quality telecommunications, data and media communication services. Telenor is one of Norway’s largest companies with 2004 revenues of approx NOK 61.3 billion (approximately US$ 9.1billion) and a workforce of 20,900 located in Norway and abroad. Telenor is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (TEL) and NASDAQ in New York (TELN).

Telenor Satellite Services is the world’s preferred provider of global communications via satellite for customers on land, at sea, and in flight. Telenor’s expanded product portfolio offers broadband satellite solutions, on demand services, and an innovative menu of value-added services capable of meeting communications requirements of users around the globe. Telenor also offers The SourceTM, a Web-based account management system available exclusively to Telenor Service Providers. Telenor Satellite Services owns and operates a global network of teleports located at Eik (Norway) and Southbury (Connecticut) and Santa Paula (California) in the United States, and operates VSAT hubs at facilities in Nittedal (Norway) and Prague (Czech Rep). The company uses the satellite systems of Inmarsat, Intelsat, Iridium, New Skies, Satmex, Spacecom, Thuraya and Telenor’s own satellites for its services. Telenor Satellite Services Web site is: www.telenor.com/satellite.

Thuraya provides cost-effective satellite-based communication solutions in urban centers, as well as remote industrial areas, villages and seas beyond terrestrial telecom networks. It offers mobile and fixed telephony, rural telephony solutions in remote area, maritime communications, fleet management & vehicle tracking, and satellite Internet services across a vast footprint of more than 120 countries.

For more information or photos contact: In the U.S.: Tom Surface, Director, Media & Public Relations Phone: +1 301 838 7805 E-mail: thomas.surface@telenor-usa.com

In Norway: Ms, Eunike Ditlefsen, Marketing Director Phone: +47 90 92 35 56 Email: eunike.ditlefsen@telenor.com