3G Handset Feedback from 2003 UMTS Deployment Congress
>> 3G Handsets Unfit for Consumers, Operators Say
Lucas van Grinsven
European Technology Correspondent
Amsterdam
Reuters
June 12, 2000
forbes.com
Third-generation (3G) mobile phones offering fast Internet access should be kept from European stores as they are unreliable, expensive, bulky and offer too limited services, mobile operators said on Thursday.
3G phones are already being sold by Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa and Telekom Austria in Britain, Italy and Austria. But established European operators from Sweden, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Britain all insisted the 3G phones they were testing were unfit for consumers.
"We're debugging. They're just not stable enough," Pietro Porzio Giusto, vice president at Telecom Italia Mobile, told Reuters at the 2003 UMTS Deployment Congress. Universal Mobile Telecommunications System is the European 3G standard.
Others said no handset could yet deliver all the promises of 3G telephony such as high-speed Internet access, crystal clear voice, video telephony and smooth handovers between radio base stations.
"Some handsets are good at handovers, like Motorola. Others are good at Internet packet data switching, but at the moment no single handset is good at everything," said Hakan Dahlstrom, head of mobile networks for Sweden at TeliaSonera.
Remi Thomas, director of Orange's UMTS network project, agreed, saying: "Some handsets are very stable (they do not drop calls) but won't have any of the 3G services."
Their comments come a few months after the first European 3G networks have started offering commercial services. Hutchison's '3' spearheaded 3G with a UK and Italian launch in March, with handsets from U.S.-based Motorola and NEC. Hutchison was not present at the conference. European mobile phone makers are struggling to deliver quality 3G phones in quantity. Nokia, the world's top handset maker, plans its maiden 3G phone delivery in two weeks.
Operators doubted there would be enough handsets available for commercial launches before the second half 2004. And they questioned whether consumers would be willing to pay more for heavier, less reliable handsets with a shorter battery life.
"We need much more advanced devices to offer new services. A two-hour battery life may be enough for a trial, but not for commercial usage," said Richard Fletcher, director 3G Showcase Applications at Manx Telecom, a unit of Britain's mmO2 on the Isle of Man and one of the first in Europe to trial 3G.
Manx is still using a "first generation" of 3G handsets, which came out last year. Newer 3G handsets -- even the upcoming Nokia version -- are not yet reliable, executives said.
"We had ten Nokia 6650, but they had to be sent back for software upgrades," said Rudi Westerveld, assistant professor at Technical University of Delft, who is doing application tests with Germany's T-Mobile in the Netherlands.
"I'd be surprised if we'll see the Nokia 6650 in the shops," said Deutsche Bank analyst Michael Thelander. <<
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