11/27/2000, 00:00 Uhr CESTAd-hoc Release

QSC and Pino in Italian DSL venture

Cologne, 27.November, 2000

QS Communications AG ("QSC"), Germany's leading alternative provider of local boadband Infrastructure and  services using DSL techology has agreed to found a joint venture in Italy. The venture will be founded jointly with Pino Partecipazioni SpA ("Pino"), a subsidiary of Pino Venture Partners, one of the leading venture capitalists in Italy's technology and telecommunications sector and Kiwi II Ventura Servicos Consultaria S.A., an investment company advised by Pino. QSC will own 30% of the newly founded venture that will roll out its own DSL infrastructure and services starting next year.

Elserino Piol, founder of Pino Venture Partners, looks back on more than 20 Jahre years of management and investment experience in the Italian technology and telecommunications sector. Amongst other investments, Piol, through investment companies advised by him and Pino Ventures, was a founding shareholder in Tiscali SpA ("Tiscali") and still holds 5.9% of Tiscali's share capital. Tiscali is publicly listed on Milan's Nuovo Mercato and the leading alternative Internet Service Provider in Europe.

After the successful start of its joint venture in the Benelux, QSC has established a further foothold in one of Europe most attractive markets for local broadband access and services. A high concentration of innovative small and medium sized enterprises in the North of Italy,  a well advanced regulatory frameweork and the lack of almost any competition from cable TV networks makes Italy a particularly attractive market for DSL services.

For further information, contact:
QSC AG
Karl-Heinz Angsten
Corporate Communication
Phone: 0221/6698-280
Fax:     0221/6698-289
Mail: karl-heinz.angsten@qsc.de

Investor Relations Partner of QSC AG :
Schumachers AG
Dorothee Kagelmann
Phone: 089/489272-0
Fax:     089/489272-12
Mail: qsc@schumachers.net