<WCDMA, an evolution of the fast growing second generation CDMA popular in the United States and
growing in Canada and South America, takes information contained in a signal and spreads it over a
wide bandwith.>
CANNES, France, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Finnish telecom equipment maker Nokia said on Wednesday it
had won the most General Packet Radio Service contracts publicly announced, making it well-placed
for the move to third generation networks.
Nokia and Swedish rival Ericsson are the leaders in GPRS, which will let mobile phone users stay
online for services like Internet and e-mail and pave the way for the video images and multimedia
envisaged in the so-called 3G networks.
''Success in GPRS is key for operators who wants to take advantage of Mobile Internet. Therefore it is
important for the vendors as well,'' Niklas Savander, Nokia Networks Vice President of Marketing, told
Reuters in an interview.
Savander claimed Nokia has 18 publicly announced commercial contracts, more than any other vendor.
''Overall the publicly announced contracts in the market are 40, so that would mean that we have
approximately 40 percent of the market so far,'' he said.
Ericsson, however, has disputed Nokia's GPRS leadership and claimed more than 50 percent of the
commercial contracts to date, including deals not yet publicly announced.
NOKIA SAYS WCDMA REVENUES TO SHOW IN 2001
Both Nokia and Ericsson are jockeying for leadership in the GPRS market as it is a stepping stone on
the way to the broader bandwith of 3G, or the Universal Mobile Telephony System (UMTS).
UMTS licences have already been awarded in Japan and Finland, and the technology used will be
WCDMA, or Wideband Code Division Multiple Access system.
WCDMA, an evolution of the fast growing second generation CDMA popular in the United States and
growing in Canada and South America, takes information contained in a signal and spreads it over a
wide bandwith.
UMTS will open new markets for Nokia Networks in Japan and to some extent the United States.
WCDMA sales will have no significant impact on Nokia revenues in 2000, although Savander expects
the first contracts to be signed this year.
''We think there will be a big activity for WCDMA this year, with 20 licences awarded in Europe
alone,'' he said. ''We will see some impact on revenues in 2001 and from there on it will inrease.''
Nokia claims around a 30 percent share of the digital GSM market, and has its sights on a larger share
of the 3G market.
''We would be disappointed if we only maintained our market share. This is a good opportunity for us to
increase it,'' Savander said.
12:48 02-02-00
Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content,
including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of
Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in
reliance thereon. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL. |
