STET Hellas Commercially Launches UMTS -- First in Greece to Offer 3G Services
Thursday January 22, 5:04 am ET
ATHENS, Greece--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 22, 2004--STET Hellas Telecommunications SA (NASDAQ: STHLY - News; Amsterdam: STHLS - News) today ushered in the new era of mobile telephony in Greece with the launch of UMTS services-- commercially available as of January 27, 2004, further re-affirming the company's innovation supremacy in the Greek mobile market.
Through UMTS, STET Hellas now offers its contract customers an evolution of their current 2G mobile experience adding video and other new services to the range of available offerings, thereby facilitating and expanding the possibilities for mobile communication. In addition to voice and value-added services, Web and WAP browsing with connection speeds up to 384 kbps and advanced MMS services, STET Hellas' 3G subscribers will also be able to conduct video calls and actually see the person that they are speaking to.
The company's UMTS services can be accessed utilizing the Nokia 6650, the Nokia 7600, the Motorola A835, or the Siemens U15 handsets, and will be initially available in the greater Athens and Thessaloniki areas, with UMTS availability in Patra and Irakleion to follow shortly.
STET Hellas' unique 3G tariff plan, TELESTET 3G 70, is designed to enable users to enjoy various 3G services by offering them 70 minutes of bundled-voice airtime, 40 megabytes of WAP and Web browsing and 15 MMS at a competitive tariff of EUR 38 per month, with a promotional monthly fee of EUR 23 for all new customers subscribing to the service up to August 1, 2004. Initially the video call service will be charged at EUR 0.005 per second for the first month of usage (for each new activation up to August 1, 2004), while afterwards customers will be charged EUR 0.01 per second. No subsidy will be offered for the TELESTET 3G 70 tariff plan.
"Today, is an important milestone in the evolution of mobile services in Greece and it is fitting that STET Hellas-- as Greece's pioneer of innovative telecommunications solutions, is first to commercially launch 3G services," noted Mr. Nikolaos Varsakis, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of STET Hellas. "In line with our strategy of grasping new opportunities for continuous profitable growth, we will remain at the forefront of Greece's mobile telephony, fully exploiting all the benefits of this new technology, not only for our customers but also for our business."
STET Hellas Telecommunications SA (Nasdaq: STHLY - News; Amsterdam: STHLS - News) is at the forefront of mobile communications in Europe. To its growing base of more than 2.7 million customers in Greece, the company's Telestet brand stands for innovative products and services. The company's majority shareholder is TIM International NV of the Telecom Italia Group (NYSE: TI - News), and its stock is publicly traded on the Nasdaq and Amsterdam exchanges.
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