RNS 1530v
FIRST PACIFIC CAPITAL (1997) LTD
3rd November 1998

FIRST PACIFIC'S SMART, NOKIA SIGNED US$40 MILLION CONTRACT TO
BUILD DUAL BAND NATIONWIDE GSM NETWORK IN PHILIPPINES

First Pacific Company Limited announced today that Smart Communications, Inc.,
the Philippines' leading integrated telecoms provider, has signed a major
supply contract with Nokia Telecommunications of Finland initially valued at 
US$40 million (HK$309.8 million) to set up the first nationwide dual band GSM
900/1800 network in Philippines.

Scheduled to be launched in the first quarter of 1999, Smart will run its GSM
service side by side with its existing ETACS network which now services over
770,000 subscribers. 

Smart's President and CEO, Orlando Vea, said, "Smart has developed a 
well-deserved reputation for delivering real benefits to the market through the
right technology at the right time.  With this introduction of dual band GSM, we
are once again taking a giant leap and revolutionizing mobile telephony in the
country."

"Nokia's capability to provide, a high-quality GSM network with the availability
of value-added services from day one has proven its success with Smart.  Smart
will now be able to provide a market-leading network solution for their
customers, within a very short roll-out time," said Claus Karthe, President
of Nokia Philippines.

Under the agreement, which was signed today by Smart's President and CEO Orlando
Vea and Nokia Telecommunications' President Sari Baldauf, Nokia will supply a
complete, GSM network to Smart.  It includes the mobile switching center (MSC),
home location register (HLR), base station controllers (BSC), base stations
(BTS), short message service center and network management system.  Deliveries
will commence immediately.

Nokia has delivered dual band networks to a number of the world's leading 
operators and was the first manufacturer to gain type-approval for a dual band
base station.  Nokia-supplied dual band networks are now operating in 14
countries including Finland, Gemany and UK.

With worldwide demand for GSM 1800 growing, dual band networks will expand
rapidly in the next few years, with total GSM subscribers reaching 200 million
by the year 2000.

Anastacio Martirez, Head of Smart's Personal Commumcations and Mobile Service
Division, said, "The world is going dual band. For Smart, going GSM 900/1800
enables us to leapfrop, our competitors who are using only single band GSM and
to offer a truly world class digital service.

"Amongst others, dual band specifically facilitates wider and easier   
international roaming, particularly starting next year, more and more operators
go GSM 1800 and dual band.  More importantly, dual band will facilitate an open
interface into the next generation of voice and data services like Global
Positioning System or GPS, image transmission and mobile video conferencing,"
he added.

Smart commenced commerical operations in 1994 and took the leadership in the
Philippine cellular market in 1997.  It now has over half the market in terms of
subscriber base.

A joint venture between first Pacific Company of Hong Kong, the Nippon Telegraph
and Telephone Corporation and a group of local investors, Smart operates a     
local exchange network in its assigned service areas, an international gateway
facility and provides data transmission and multimedia services through its
subsidiaries, Smart NTT Multimedia Inc. (SNMI) and InterCommerce Network
Services, a joint venture with a General Electric unit.

With this cooperation, the number of operators to which Nokia supplies GSM
technology increases to 75 operators in 37 countries.  Nokia ranks as the 
world's largest supplier of GSM networks and one of the two largest in         
GSM 900.  A leader in the cellular industry in many markets in Asia Pacific,
Nokia provides innovative and industry-leading technology and products to over
30 diverse markets in the region.

Nokia is one of the world's leading mobile phone supplier and a leading 
supplier of mobile and fixed telecom networks including related
customer services. Nokia also supplies solutions and products for fixed and 
wireless datacom, as well as multimedia terminals and computer monitors.  In 
1997, net sales totaled US$9.8 billion (HK$75.9 billion). Headquartered in
Finland, Nokia is listed on five European Stock Exchanges and on the New
York Stock Exchange (NOK.A) has sales in 130 countries and employs more      
than 42,000 people worldwide.



For further information, please contact:

Smart Communications, Inc.              Tel:    (63-2) 511 3101
Mon Isberto
Head, Public Affairs

First Pacific Company Limited             Tel:    (852) 2842 4336
Sara Cheung
Manager, Corporate Communications


First Pacific Company's information can also be accessed on:

Web Site         http://www.firstpacco.com          
                 http://www.irasia.com/listco/hk/firstpac
E-mail           info@firstpac.com.hk

END

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