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Ericsson and First Hop Partner to Provide Complete Solutions for Application and Content Based Messaging Business Helsinki - July 25, 2003 - Ericsson and First Hop have established a partnership to provide complete messaging solutions for mobile operators offering value added application and content based SMS, MMS, i-mode and WAP Push services. The recently signed distribution license and service agreement allows Ericsson to act as reseller, systems integrator and technical service provider for First Hop Message Router and First Hop Messaging Manager, market leading messaging middleware products. The partnership covers Ericsson operations in Spain, Portugal, Middle East, South Africa, Central America and South America. The First Hop messaging middleware solution fits perfectly with the Ericsson messaging product portfolio and definitively completes and closes the total circle around messaging. First Hop Message Router is a high availability, carrier-grade solution that enables flexible and vendor-independent routing of messages between value-added messaging services and mobile devices. First Hop Message Router connects SMS/EMS/MMS/i-mode and WAP Push applications to different types of messaging centres, all around the world. First Hop Messaging Manager is specifically designed to support the requirements of a rapidly evolving portfolio of services. It allows mobile operators and third-party Service Providers to maximise their success in the marketplace by actively managing a dynamic, evolving service portfolio - together. First Hop enters into the partnership as an Ericsson Mobility World Associate Partner because the company and its products fulfil a vital need for operators to provide a fast-growing, cost efficient portfolio of dynamic mobile data services in multi-vendor mobile networks. And although First Hop already has a strong portfolio of messaging products and a customer base across Europe, Middle East, Asia and North America, the company will benefit greatly from this partnership: Ericssons global customer reach, extensive service organization and complementary mobile infrastructure products will complement First Hops products and services with little overlap. The partnership is expected to lead to significant new value around First Hop messaging products and better business for all the parties involved - the mobile operators, First Hop and Ericsson. Current First Hop messaging middleware customers include a number of mobile service innovators and market leaders, such as Vodafone, T-Mobile, Radiolinja, M1 and Sonera Zed. These companies use First Hop products to connect mobile users to a wide variety of content and applications, often across several countries and regions, and to provision content providers and mobile services in a cost-efficient, flexible and simple manner. "First Hop is proud to enter into a partnership with Ericsson - a company which is not only a world leading mobile network infrastructure provider, but also one of the market makers in the growing Multimedia Messaging (MMS) business. Combining First Hops market winning messaging middleware products with Ericssons highly professional sales force, competitive mobile infrastructure products and unparalleled service network all over the world, results in a partnership that will be hard to beat", notes Timo T Laaksonen, Chief Executive Officer of First Hop. About First Hop First Hop, a proven leader in mobile middleware and multi-vendor messaging solutions, provides scalable messaging management and wireless connectivity and optimisation products for mobile operators and service providers. First Hop generates immediate business benefits by shortening content services time-to-market, providing flexible application charging schemes, simplifying multi-vendor infrastructure management while providing a clear evolution path to future technologies. Addressing the rapidly growing space for mobile Internet content, First Hop enables operators and service providers to drive up the ARPU with large multi-channel application portfolios that target increasingly segmented end-user interests. Founded in 1997, First Hop is a privately held company headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, and with sales and support operations in Singapore, UK, and Spain. For further information, please visit www.firsthop.com.