11/27/2001

QSC AG and Tiscali enter sales partnership

Munich, November 27, 2001 - Tiscali Germany and QSC AG, Germany's professional DSL provider, have signed a sales partnership agreement under which Tiscali will use QSC's fast DSL-network in addition to T-DSL. As early as December of this year, Tiscali will provide residential power users with Tiscali DSL FlatPlus for € 59 per month. This fully-fledged flat rate will be available in the 46 German cities in which QSC operates its proprietary network. The advantages of flat-rate ADSL are high upstream and downstream speeds, even on the 'last mile', without any regular disconnect. The partners to the deal estimate that at least 20,000 residential users throughout Germany will opt for Tiscali DSL FlatPlus in the course of the next year.

Any Internet user can find exactly the right broadband product from Tiscali to suit his or her websurfing needs: Tiscali DSL 500, Tiscali DSL time100 and Tiscali DSL FlatPlus. Based on a connection between the QSC network and the Tiscali backbone, the flat rate enables a nominal downstream bandwidth of 1024 Kbit/s* and an upstream bandwidth of 256 Kbit/s* - significantly higher speeds than those of other German providers. QSC's high-performance network infrastructure enables ping times starting at 15 milliseconds* and constant data throughput rates. These features ensure high quality for time-critical applications that process data in real time, such as Internet 'video on demand', or online gaming. Another benefit of the new Tiscali product is that the DSL line is not disconnected after 24 hours. This means that flat-rate customers can remain online non-stop. Downloading large files, online gaming session of any duration and permanent online accessibility are thus made reality.

"Through our partnership with QSC, we now provide power users in 46 German cities with high-performance DSL connections. This makes us one of the providers that has deliberately opted for QSC's technology, in addition to T-DSL. QSC's network covers a potential of 20 million users", comments Carl Mühlner, Chief Executive Officer of Tiscali in Germany, with reference to the partnership. "The Tiscali flat rate is also being actively marketed through more than 220 'Saturn' and 'Media Markt' consumer electronics retail stores which enhances our ability to demonstrate the benefits of this product to the residential customer."

"Thanks to our high-performance DSL infrastructure, Tiscali can provide its residential subscribers better and faster with content and access services, and in this strengthen their customer relationships", comments Bernd Schlobohm, CEO at QSC, referring to the new partnership agreement. "Both partners can now grow their respective shares in the German market for residential subscribers."

*depending on the performance of the Internet server providing the data

Prices and availability

Tiscali DSL FlatPlus is an all-in package costing € 59 per month, and includes both provision of the DSL line itself and DSL Internet access. For a once-only connection fee of € 59, each customer receives a modem worth € 149 for the duration of the subscriber contract, a DSL connection for which a separate connection socket is installed by QSC, plus genuine flat-rate access. The minimum term of contract is 12 months. Tiscali DSL FlatPlus will be available from December 2001 onward in the 46 German cities where QSC is present.

Tiscali will extend the collaboration with QSC to the business client sector and provide symmetric DSL services in all 46 QSC-cities.

Background information:

QSC AG (QSC) is a professional DSL provider in Germany. This technology makes efficient use of the 'last mile' on the basis of unbundled network access, thus multiplying data traffic speeds by a factor of several times compared with standard subscriber connections. QSC offers its business and residential customers broadband 'always-on' connections to the Internet, with up and downstream data transfer rates going up to 2.3 Mbps. The company's broadband network covers the 40 largest cities in Germany and reaches more than 20 million potential users.

Since April 2000, QSC has been listed on the Neuer Markt [QSC] segment of the Frankfurt stock exchange and the New York Nasdaq [QSCG]. The company's IPO increased the equity capital by more than EUR 280 million to over EUR 420 million.

Tiscali S.p.A., (Nuovo Mercato, Milan: TIS, Nouveau Marché, Paris: 005773), is the leading pan-European Internet Communication Company providing access, content and business applications, as well as innovative communication services. As of 30 September 2001, Tiscali had 7.56 million active users and a daily Internet traffic of 130 million minutes. With 14.5 million unique visitors to the Tiscali portal in September 2001, Tiscali is confirmed as Europe's leading web property (Source MMXI). Tiscali's corporate website can be found at www.tiscali.com .

Tiscali GmbH offers private customers a powerful, reasonably priced andreliable internet-access, national and international voice services, exclusive content in partnership with leading media companies, additional services free of charge and attractive E-Commerce offers.

For more details see www.tiscali.de or www.tiscali.com.

For further information please contact:

QSC AG, Uta Teigel, Corporate Communications, Mathias-Brüggen-Str. 55, 50829 Cologne, Phone: +49/221/6698-281, Fax: +49/221/6698-289, E-Mail: presse@qsc.de

Tiscali GmbH, Corporate Communications, Marina Baader, Konrad-Celtis-Straße 77, 81369 Munich, Phone: +49/89/71 047-118, Fax +49/89/ 71 047-318, E-Mail: marina.baader@de.tiscali.com, Website: www.tiscali.de

Ahrens & Behrent Munich, Nicholas Kettner, Kaulbachstraße 85, 80802 Munich, Phone: +49/89/23 08 97-12, Fax +49/1850/22 32 85, E-Mail: n.kettner@a-b.de