PRESS RELEASE

Mumbai, July 28, 2004: Hutch, India's leading pure play cellular service, today became the first telecom operator in the country to roll out the Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution (EDGE) standard, that has the capability to provide high speed, multimedia mobile services such as video streaming on mobile phones. This was announced today by Harit Nagpal, Chief Marketing Officer, Hutch.

Speaking about the introduction of EDGE in India, Harit Nagpal, said, "Mobile users in India are demanding rich, multimedia applications. We were the first to provide multimedia services like 'live' video replays on GPRS phones, Click & Print MMS, push2talk and Microsoft Outlook on mobile phones. With an EDGE-enabled national network, we will be able to provide the next generation of multimedia mobile services to our users. The EDGE-enabled Hutch network now has the capability to provide services such as video streaming on mobile phones."

Added Harit Nagpal, "EDGE enhances our capability to expand our existing range of multimedia services. We are proud to be the first EDGE-enabled telecom network in the country."

EDGE can deliver higher speeds of download using existing GSM spectrum and is being deployed by leading GSM operators globally as an interim step towards 3G services.

About Hutch

Hutchison Essar has licenses for 13 circles in India - Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Haryana, UP (E), UP (W), Punjab and West Bengal & Sikkim. Hutchison Essar now has a combined subscriber base of over 5.8 million cellular subscribers. Hutch and its services are rated the best on a number of parameters: it is rated as 'Best Mobile Service in the Country' by the national TNS survey of mobile users; named 'Most Respected Telecom Company' by Business World; named 'Creative Advertiser of the Year' and has won the 'Campaign of the Year' award at the annual Abby 2004 advertising awards function.

For more information, please contact:

Amrit Singh Deo / Sandhya Sadananda
Genesis Public Relations
Orange: 98202 11064/ 98205 41788
Tel: 022 - 5664 5220 / 5660 3027
Email: amrit.deo@orange.co.in / ssadananda@genesispr.com