Press Releases

Budapest, November 14, 2000

MATÁV (NYSE: MTA.N and BSE: MTAV:BU) the leading Hungarian telecom service provider informs its investors of the following.

Moody's Investors Services assigned an indicative rating of Baa1 to the long term, senior unsecured debt borrowings of MATÁV in foreign and domestic currency. This rating is not constrained by the sovereign ceiling of Hungary. The rating outlook is stable.

Moody's provided the following rationale for the rating:

A key factor in the rating assessment is that MATÁV will remain the leading telecommunications operator in both the wireline and the wireless businesses in Hungary. MATÁV is believed to continue to benefit from its monopoly concession in wireline voice until year 2002 and during this period, the company will achieve further operating efficiencies as well as tariff rebalancing.

The indicative rating also factors strong technological and financial support from Deutsche Telekom, the fact that the terms and conditions in the concession will continue to be met as well as the regulatory environment remains supportive. It is also assumed that MATÁV will exercise its option to acquire Deutsche Telekom's 49% stake in the Westel subsidiaries for an agreed price of USD 885 million until September 30, 2001. The risk implied in possible future international investments, which could include exposure to Bulgaria and Macedonia's sovereign risk is also considered.

MATÁV is expected to continue to improve the technological quality of its network and achieve higher telephone penetration rates over time. MATÁV is believed that its improved marketing focus will enable it to achieve a level of traffic stimulation that will compensate for future tariff decreases.