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Technology Stocks : Vodafone-Airtouch (NYSE: VOD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MrGreenJeans who wrote (3120)	4/3/2001 12:40:13 PM
From: MrGreenJeans	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3175

Vodafone GPRS service opens for business (little on VOD and GPRS for you, is this one true?) by Mark Mayne on 03 April 2001 14:55:00 GMT Vodafone has this week launched its GPRS mobile service offering company workers mobile remote access to their office-based systems such as e-mail, calendars and databases. A spokesperson for Vodafone said: “The service launched as planned and although we have no subscriber figures yet, we have been taking orders since March.” The service, which the company said last year would launch in Q1 2001, launched yesterday, though it currently only features business services, rather than consumer-orientated capability. The company said consumer services, expected to include games, better search services, and improved mobile internet access, would follow “in the coming months.” However, the move post-dates the launch by rival BTCellnet of a GPRS business service last year. BT is also looking to launch a consumer version as soon as possible. Other rivals Orange and One2One promise GPRS rollouts this summer. All are being held up by the delays in the production of GPRS handsets as handset manufacturers seek to offload existing stocks of first generation phones. GPRS networks are also thought to be some way short of acceptable standards for coverage and quality in all parts of the UK. The Vodafone GPRS tariff structure begins with a connection charge of £29.79, followed by two price plans: Vodafone Bundles and Vodafone Volume Tariff. The former costs from £15 per month, with 5Mb bundled data allowance, to £100 (100Mb). The volume tariff costs £10 per month, but relies on the user having at least 25 subscriptions – or separate phone connections – which would cost a minimum of £250 per month. BT’s business service begins at £30pm for 5Mb data, up to £65 for 50Mb. The Motorola T260 is the only handset available on Vodafone’s service at present, and provides data speeds of 36kbps on the downlink according to the company. Vodafone has re-affirmed its intention to launch more PDA-type GPRS handsets by Q2 this year.