Qualcomm to Deploy High-Speed Technology in Romania (Correct)
By Bogdan Preda
(Corrects to say Telemobil in seventh paragraph of story published Dec. 5)
Bucharest, Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Qualcomm Inc., whose patented technology is used in 96 million mobile phones, is to use Romania's Telemobil SA to make new high-speed technology available to European users for the first time as it seeks to expand across the continent.
Telemobil, Romania's smallest mobile phone company, said it will start use of Qualcomm's CDMA 2000 third generation data and voice technology from Friday. The technology provides access to the Internet three times faster than current fixed telephone networks, as well as the ability to play games and watch video transmissions on phones.
``Romania's size, population and its engineering competence make it a great place for us to develop, build and improve applications,'' Diwaker Singh, Telemobil's chief executive officer, said in an interview with Bloomberg News.
San Diego, California-based Qualcomm will invest about $350 million in Romania together with other companies that hold stakes in Telemobil as they look to increase use of new technology in Europe via one of the continent's fledgling mobile phone markets. About a sixth of Romania's 23 million population use mobile phones, compared with about half the population in neighboring Hungary.
The company's CDMA 2000 system, which will be marketed with the brand-name `Zapp Mobile' in Romania, is in use in Korea, and is scheduled to start by year's end in the U.S., Canada and Brazil, and by June next year in China. Japan's NTT DoCoMo Inc. has developed I- mode, a separate third-generation mobile system.
``Through Telemobil, Qualcomm has access to a cheap existing platform and skilled professionals,'' said Matei Paun, an analyst at Romania's Quantum Communications telecom consultancy. It also ``gives Romanian software developers a head start in creating and testing third generation applications.''
Market Share
Telemobil aims to gain a quarter of all new mobile phone subscribers in Romania between now and mid-2003, according to Singh.
Telemobil, which has 11,500 subscribers, became the first mobile phone operator in Romania in 1993. Competition began in 1997 when Mobifon SA, majority-owned by Telesystem International Wireless Inc. of Canada and Vodafone Group Plc, and MobilRom SA, majority-owned by Orange SA, started operating using GSM technology that was cheaper and had greater signal strength than Telemobil's existing NMT system. A third, Cosmorom SA, controlled by Romtelecom SA, the national phone company, entered the market in 2000, also with GSM.
Telemobil will purchase mobile terminals from Korea's Hyundai Curitel and Synertech of the U.S., with built-in high-speed modems and Microsoft 3.0 browsers, Singh said. Lucent Technologies Inc. of the U.S. will supply the base stations, Harris Corp. and Kathrein Werke KG the antennas, and Comverse Technology Inc. additional services.
Telemobil has applied for waivers on value-added tax and custom duties that Romania has said it will grant for investments exceeding $1 million where a company commits to staying in the country for 10 years, Singh said.
Qualcomm and Omnia, a Middle East investment fund, together own a majority stake in London-based Inquam Limited, which owns 99.5 percent of Telemobil. |
