To: Ibexx who wrote (111620 ) 1/25/2002 11:26:15 AM From: T L Comiskey Respond to of 152472 Verizon Wireless could launch 3G next week-sourcedatekrt.newsalert.com . Verizon Wireless could launch 3G next week-source Reuters Company News - January 24, 2002 16:34 WASHINGTON, Jan 24 (Reuters) - Verizon Wireless, the biggest U.S. mobile telephone carrier, could launch as soon as next week its third-generation wireless network capable of streaming video and high-speed Internet, a source close to the company said on Thursday. Verizon, which currently bases its service on Qualcomm Inc.'s Code Division Multiple Access digital wireless technology, is upgrading its networks with the next generation version. The new version, the CDMA 2000 1xRTT standard, offers as much as 10 times the network voice capacity and wireless data connections of existing networks. Carriers have been boasting that consumers will have speeds up to 144 kilobits per second on their mobile phones with the new technology. The source declined to provide further details and a Verizon spokesman declined to comment on its plans to roll out 3G service. CNet news, an Internet news site, reported that Verizon Wireless will offer the service in areas from Boston to Virginia on the East Coast, and Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay area in the West. Similar 1xRTT service was launched in South Korea and 1.2 million people subscribed to the service that allows them to swap digital pictures and watch each other on picture telephones. The company, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc , ran demonstrations last fall with Ericsson and Lucent Technologies . Lucent and Sierra Wireless Inc. last fall announced they would develop wireless modems that operate on the high-speed mobile network.