Effnet: The First DAB+ Demonstration in Asia to Take Place at BroadcastAsia 2007

To date, approximately 5 million DAB radios and around 4 million Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB)/DAB receivers have been sold worldwide according to WorldDMB, the international organization that is responsible for defining the standards for digital audio broadcasting. WorldDMB represents 120 organizations (mainly broadcasters and manufacturers) from more than 30 countries and is responsible for promoting and coordinating the Eureka 147 family of standards. The DAB+ standard, published by ETSI (TS 102 563) in February 2007, is the latest audio codec standard developed by WorldDMB.

With the advantage of significantly increased bandwidth efficiency, DAB+ offers broadcasters the highest level of flexibility in lowering costs per channel and in delivering a wider choice of stations to consumers. It is the most logical choice for countries that are getting ready to deploy their first DAB systems, such as Australia, China, India, Malaysia and Singapore. Many countries are now considering adopting DAB+ into their national broadcast systems. Australia will be the first to launch the system in late 2008. Adopting Coding Technologies' flagship product, the MPEG-4 aacPlus audio codec (also known as HE-AAC v2), DAB+ enables broadcasters to provide better audio quality with much higher spectrum efficiency. aacPlus is the most efficient audio compression technology currently available worldwide. It offers the same perceived audio quality at about one third of the bit rate required by MEPG Audio Layer II used in the current DAB services.

"Ever since we established a Coding Technologies office in Beijing a little over a year ago, we have seen a growing acceptance and popularity of our aacPlus technology in the region," said Toni Fiedler, chief representative of Coding Technologies China Office. "By closely working with an increasing number of partners in the region, such as Factum Electronics, Future Waves and Maxscend, we are able to deliver a best-of-breed audio compression technology to a wider range of broadcasters here and around the world."

Factum is the leading supplier of head end solutions for DAB, DAB+ and T-DMB, with professional customers in more than 40 countries all over the world. "We are welcoming the new possibilities that DAB+ adds to digital radio", said Kenneth Lundgren, Managing Director of Factum Electronics AB, and continued: "Factum has already delivered DAB+ equipment for trials in Europe. DAB+ is available now, and we are proud to present a live demo of DAB+ at Broadcast Asia together with other industrial leaders.

The receiver used for today's demonstration was co-developed by Maxscend Technologies, a China-based IC provider, and Future Waves, a leading supplier of RF solutions for the digital broadcasting market. "Maxscend has the smallest demodulator chip with built-in support for enhanced Forward Error Correction (FEC) required by DAB+ and offers the lowest power consumption in the Industry," said Zhihan Xu, CEO of Maxscend. "Working closely with our partners, we will deliver the best product solutions to our customers." "Future Waves has always aimed at providing high sensitivity and easy-to-use RF tuner chips," said Glenn Vandevoorde, CEO of Future Waves. "We are pleased to contribute our expertise to this development."

All trade names, company names and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective owners

Coding Technologies

Coding Technologies provides the best audio compression for mobile, broadcasting, and Internet. SBR(TM) (Spectral Band Replication) from Coding Technologies is a backward and forward compatible method to enhance the efficiency of any audio codec; putting the "PRO" in mp3PRO and the "Plus" in aacPlus. Parametric Stereo from Coding Technologies and Philips again significantly increases the efficiency of audio codecs for stereo signals at low bit rates. Products from Coding Technologies are fundamental enablers of open standards such as 3GPP, 3GPP2, MPEG, DVB, Digital Radio Mondiale, HD Radio, and the DVD Forum. Coding Technologies is a privately held company with offices in Sweden, Germany, China, and the USA. Founded in 1997 in Stockholm, the company later merged with a spin-off of the renowned Fraunhofer Institute in Germany, the inventor of MP3. Coding Technologies' customers include America Online, EMP, iBiquity Digital, KDDI, O2, Nokia, Orange, RealNetworks, SK Telecom, Sprint, T-Mobile, Thomson, Texas Instruments, Vodafone, and XM Satellite Radio. For more information, visit www.codingtechnologies.com.

Factum Electronics AB

Factum Electronics AB, a wholly owned subsidiary of Effnet Holding AB (publ), is a world leader in the areas of DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting), DAB+, DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting), and NICAM, digital stereo sound for analogue television systems. Established in 1986, Factum Electronics AB has more than 20 years experience in digital broadcasting and are today serving broadcasters in more than 40 countries around the world. Factum Electronics develops and sells head end system solutions for DAB, DAB+ and DMB. Factum Electronics also develops and sells middleware software for DAB, DAB+ and DMB receivers, as well as test & monitoring equipment. The Factum NICAM products continues to serve television broadcasters around the world with digital stereo sound. For more information about Factum Electronics AB, please visit www.factum.se.

Effnet Holding AB (publ) (STO:EFFN) is traded on the First North list of the Stockholm Stock Exchange, under the ticker (EFFN), and its certified adviser is Remium (www.remium.com). For more information please visit www.effnetholding.se.

Maxscend Technologies

Maxscend is a fables semiconductor company that provides the most competitive mobile DTV chip solutions. Aiming at the emerging MDTV market, Maxscend announced DAB/DAB+/T-DMB demodulator, MXD0120, which can be used in mobile phone, personal media player, USB dongle, and vehicle entertainment systems for MDTV reception. The chip is in volume production and adopted by top-tier mobile phone manufactures in China. In addition to semiconductor ICs, Maxscend also provides complete software and hardware platform solutions to help customers achieve fast time to market. Funded by Sequoia Capital and Angel Investors, Maxscend Technologies Inc. was incorporated in April 2006, and located in the ZhangJiang High-tech Park in Shanghai, China. The founding team consists of Silicon Valley returnees with many years of R&D, management and China local business experience. Maxscend has assembled a word class R&D team which is capable of developing innovative algorithm, architecture and chip implementation with unrivaled combination of low power consumption, low cost and high performance.

Future Waves

Future Waves is a cutting-edge designer of RF and mixed-signal semiconductor components for next generation digital communication and broadcast technologies. Headquartered in Taiwan, Future Waves holds offices in the UK and Korea to provide sales and customer support to our partners and customers in these regions. Future Waves targets RF CMOS digital tuners for portable applications and provides the most flexible RF solution in addition to industry leading performance regarding power consumption, cost effectiveness and ease of use. Additional information about Future Waves is available at www.f-waves.com.

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