Sonera To Launch 3G Mobile Communications Services In Finland On September 26
UMTS network delayed, something tells me we´re going to get a few ggggggs here...
sonera.com
The services to be launched by Sonera on September 26 are among the first 3G mobile communications services. The services will initially operate primarily on the present mobile communications network (GSM/GPRS) on account of the technological delay and also on the UMTS network within the coming months. Sonera is at the forefront of launching 3G services, making roll-out and the transition between technologies as smooth as possible.
The development of UMTS technology is progressing, but not yet completed. The services Sonera will launch on September 26, 2002 can be used with the Java enabled MMS phones available on the market.
“Sonera’s strength has always been its ability to provide its customers with the most advanced services and the latest technology. In spite of the delay and slower overall start in UMTS technology deployment globally, we continue to be in the vanguard of the development of next generation services. The services that we will launch in September will be the first step, after which we can continue with the development work. These services represent an important milestone on our way from the second generation of mobile communications to the third one,” says Anni Vepsäläinen, Executive Vice President responsible for Sonera’s 3G mobile communications project.
Since January 1, 2002, Sonera’s UMTS network has been operational in limited areas within the Greater Helsinki area, Tampere, Turku and Oulu. The network opened at the beginning of this year is the first UMTS network in Europe that covers several towns. A limited commercial pilot is planned for the first quarter of 2003. Commercial UMTS mobile communications will be started on Sonera’s network in 2003 as soon as there is a sufficient number of UMTS enabled terminals available and this is feasible in view of the maturity of the network technology. Sonera estimates that more extensive UMTS markets will be opened in the years 2004 and 2005 in Finland.
Third generation services refer to the general development of mobile services towards new kinds of visual, easy-to-use multimedia services that utilize various mobile network technologies, such as GPRS, UMTS, Java, MMS and XHTML. |
