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To: Eric L who wrote (10189)	4/2/2001 9:43:59 AM
From: Eric L	Respond to of 34857

re: Handset Supply (GPRS & W-CDMA) - Telstra & DoCoMo >> Operators Caught Short On Supply Of New Phones Malcolm Spicer Wireless Today April 2, 2001 Telstra's[TLSR] experience with a shortage of handsets equipped to work with the general packet radio service, 2.5-generation network it launched last month in Australia is something Japanese wireless giant NTT DoCoMo's may contend with during the launch of its 3G system in May. "The total lack of phones has held up our ability to launch the [GPRS network] since April last year," David Kaye, product strategy manager for Telstra OnAir told Wireless Today. "As there is a worldwide shortage of GPRS product at present, we could envisage situations of temporary stock shortages. This would be a good thing from our perspective as it would indicate strong demand for the product." NTT DoCoMo plans to launch 3G services on a wideband-CDMA network in May with only four handset models available out of the 16 models manufacturers have agreed to provide. It expects to sell only 150,000 W-CDMA handsetsin the first year. NTT DoCoMo execs last week said they expect two out of the 11 handsetmanufacturers signed on to supply W-CDMA phones will be ready for its 3G launch. Matsushita Communications Industrial [MC] and NEC [NIPNY] will each launch two handsets. Some of those models will take another two years to develop. The Bottom Line Telstra doesn't expect its handset vendors to take two years to come up to speed with supplying GPRS phones. Having a sufficient supply of GPRS phones is crucial because the GPRS network will initiate Telstra's wireless customers into using advanced data services before 3G systems integrate those services and voice capabilities into one channel, Kaye said. "W-CDMA is only an air interface," he said. "GPRS brings new business models, new charging regimes, new functionality which all transport to the 3G air interface. It is 2.5G where the big changes occur. If we can not get data to fly with GPRS then 3G may only carry voice." << - Eric -