Much more ARF, ARFF, ARFFF!!!
Sonera postpones next-generation wireless network
The Associated Press
8/30/02 11:03 AM
STOCKHOLM (Dow Jones/AP) -- Finnish telecommunications operator Sonera Corp. said Friday it will
postpone the commercial launch of its third-generation wireless network until the first quarter of 2003.
Sonera had previously announced plans to open its 3G network for commercial service on Sept. 26. It said it
now plans a "limited commercial pilot" in the first quarter of 2003.
It blamed the delay on delays in the development of the technology, called Universal Mobile Telephone
System.
Sonera said more widespread UMTS services on the network would begin in 2003 as soon as there are
enough 3G phones on the market.
The decision by Sonera -- Finland's largest operator and once one of the most eager believers in 3G's
potential -- to delay the launch is yet another setback for the next-generation network technology, which is
designed to increase data transmission speeds.
European operators committed billions of dollars in 1999 and 2000 to secure licenses for the new networks,
which are expected to allow streaming video and mobile Internet services for cell phones.
But lately, operators have been in retreat, amid doubts about the near-term potential of the new wireless
services and development delays.
Nokia Corp., the world's largest maker of mobile phones, is scheduled to unveil its first 3G phone Sept. 26.
Sonera's launch of commercial services was timed to coincide with the Nokia unveiling.
Telia AB, Sweden's largest operator, has agreed to take over Sonera. The companies have said the deal is
expected to close early in the autumn.
nj.com.
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"It blamed the delay on delays in the development of the technology, called Universal Mobile Telephone
System."
How will that great semantic gymnast, Jorma Jorma, reconstruct Sonera's reality - the reality that Sonera's 3G
delays are fundamentally due to "delays in the development of the technology" - to support, on September
26, the contention that Nokia's 3G dual-mode handsets are "real" and "working"?
How do Sonera's comments reinforce and confirm Vodafone Germany's Juergen von Kuczkowski's comments
regarding "quality standards", "performance features", and particularly "handover problems"?
Can Jorma Jorma deconstruct... and then reconstruct, in Clintonian style, the very meaning of "real" and
"working"?
Is the only meaningful proof that Nokia's 3G dual-mode handsets are "real" and "working" - and that they
might have been "real" and "working" in March - commercially available 3G dual-mode service on
September 26?
If they were "real" and "working" in March, why would they not be just as "real" and "working" and
manufactured in quantity to run on Nokia designed infrastructure 6 months later?
In light of Sonera's statements this morning, has Nokia already failed the September 26 test?
What's left to witness on September 26 aside from Jorma Jormas's gymnastic skills?
The Fourth Estate, by all appearances, did not agree with Sonera's rather sunny spin on events. Will they be
as discriminating on September 26?
Here is another March statement from CEBIT:
"Nokia Mobile Phones President Matti Alahuhta said fears over the availability of 3G handsets had been
overblown and that Nokia hoped to start shipping the product in big volumes in the fourth quarter of the
year."
Message 17185357
With 3G dual-mode handsets "real" and "working" in March, volume production in the fourth quarter seems
conservative. I hope no investors took Matti's comments to heart. |
