STOCKHOLM, and Ethernet Expo, LONDON, April 25, 2006 - Cisco Systems® today announced that Bredbandsbolaget (B2), a leading broadband communication provider in Sweden with more than 375,000 residential and business subscribers, is delivering "triple-play" (video, voice, and data) services, offering bidirectional broadband access, IPTV and IP telephony services, to new Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) customers over a Cisco IP Next Generation Network (IP NGN) featuring the Cisco® ME 3400 Series Ethernet Access Switch.

B2 has seen an increase in residential subscribers as the company extended its network reach to over two million Swedish households, or two-thirds of the population, through the build out of its network based on the Cisco IP Next Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture last year. The growth in demand for triple-play services meant that B2 required more powerful quality-of-service (QoS) capabilities, higher levels of security and easier provisioning and management in the access network.

"From our tender process, we found that the Cisco ME 3400 Series switch was the closest match for our requirements on performance, security and manageability," said Lars-Åke Norling, vice president and chief operating officer at B2. "Our focus is to further develop our residential customer base and we looked for a platform that was optimised for triple-play services. The ME 3400 Series is purpose-built for broadband providers like us."

"Cisco was the first to address the specific needs of service providers who are offering Ethernet services to both consumers and businesses," said Sverker Hannevall, general manager, Cisco Systems Sweden. "By delivering key features in the areas of QoS, multicast and security, we aim to help service providers like B2 to deploy innovative and successful triple-play services."

The Cisco ME 3400 Series is the first access switch family optimized for the FTTH market, providing both Ethernet-to-the-home (ETTH) triple-play services and Ethernet-to-the-business (ETTB) VPN services. It provides the most complete security solution for Metro Ethernet access that covers subscriber, switch, and network protection. The Cisco ME 3400 Series supports multiple software images to provide a "pay-as-you-grow" deployment model. With service breadth spanning triple-play and Layer 2 and Layer 3 VPN services, reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) and operating expenses (OpEx) can be achieved from a single ETTH + ETTB access solution. The Cisco ME 3400 Series was recently certified for Carrier Ethernet services delivery compliant with the Metro Ethernet Forum MEF 9 technical specifications.

About Bredbandsbolaget

Bredbandsbolaget offers high-speed broadband for Internet access, telephony, digital-tv and add-on broadband services. Bredbandsbolaget currently has 375,000 residential subscribers, which makes it Sweden's second largest broadband provider with 25 percent of the market-it is No. 1 in the big cities. Bredbandsbolaget also has a fast-growing business subscriber base. Bredbandsbolaget is Sweden's largest broadband telephony player with over 125,000 customers. Its network is being continuously extended, and can now reach some 2 million Swedish households in more than 70 population centres nationwide.

The corporation was founded in 1998 and has some 335 employees. In 2004, sales were SEK 1,196 m and EBITDA was SEK 200 m. Since July 2005 Bredbandsbolaget is a wholly owned subsidiary of Norwegian Telenor ASA. www.bredband.com