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To: Eric L who wrote (11747)	5/20/2001 4:35:22 PM
From: Eric L	Respond to of 34857

re: TDMA to GSM/GPRS Flip in Argentina Telecom Personal SA >> Argentina Connects To The GSM Global Family London, UK 17th MAY 2001 GSM PR The GSM world is set to welcome Argentina to the fold as Telecom Personal SA, the country's largest mobile phone network, prepares to switch on high speed GSM/GPRS network services in the coming months. Telecom Personal, which joined the GSM Association in March, is building out a state of the art digital cellular network in the Argentina that will replace its national TDMA 1900 MHz network. The move continues the trend of TDMA operators strategically switching from TDMA to GSM - AT&T of the US, Rogers Wireless of Canada and Telcel of Mexico among other notable companies making the switch of late. The decision to build a new state of the art GSM network - offering high speed mobile internet services via GPRS - was a very straightforward one, according Marcelo De Carli, General Director of Telecom Personal SA: "GSM is clearly the leading wireless technology in the world today. In addition to many wide-ranging and immediate benefits of introducing the GSM family, we foresee massive potential for roaming both internationally and regionally right across our neighbouring countries of Latin America," he added. "Because GSM is an open, internationally deployed standard, the vast economies of scale enjoyed globally enables a huge choice of competitive handsets and infrastructure, this will bring fast and cost effective network roll-out and a wide value and variety of products and services to customers in Argentina." "In addition, GSM has a graceful evolutionary path to 3GSM (also known as Wideband-CDMA) services and is a technology that has a lot of maturity, combined with the global commitment of more than 455 operators within the Association to the GSM family's continued evolution," said De Carli. GSM is already deployed or being deployed today, by some 19 operators in Argentina, Antigua & Barbuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela today. The GSM Association's South American Interest Group has predicted that there will be some 20 million GSM customers in the region, within the next twelve to eighteen months. With the arrival of GSM in Brazil later this year, and in Mexico (following Telcel's announcement to also replace its TDMA network with GSM) deployment in Argentina will both boost growth substantially, and help to complete the coverage for global and regional roamers. Telecom Personal will launch services in Buenos Aires initially - which has 40 percent of the Population of Argentina - and will continue with aggressive roll-out in the interior of Argentina with plans in hand to offer advanced voice services and eventually GPRS services on a nationwide basis. "Córdoba, Rosario, Mendoza, and Mar del Plata will follow, among other key cities," says De Carli. "We intend to eventually cover 80 percent of the population." "The potential for the GSM family in Argentina is enormous," says Rob Conway, CEO of the GSM Association. "Argentina is an important tourist destination, but it is also an important hub in Latin America for business, and particularly with European and North American companies." "GSM will bring many benefits to the Argentine economy" he added, "for customers it will bring a full range of GSM's benefits, from seamless roaming to cost effective and highly user-friendly features and services, including advanced wireless. Internet applications through Telecom Personal's deployment of GPRS." << - Eric -