Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: foundation who wrote (20919)	3/29/2002 1:41:16 PM
From: mightylakers	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 197051

GPRS Issue was Postponed CHINA, Mar 29, 2002 (AsiaPort via COMTEX) -- A report on Chinese website said the company had decided to stop issuing new numbers for GPRS due to serious concerns about its technical features that may make the service virtually unusable. Compared to regular cellphone service, GPRS offers higher bandwidth which allows "always-on" Internet connection and data services for the user. The report said current GPRS handsets do not have the function of saving data sent through the network, and the applications server cannot filter unwanted information so that customers may end up paying for extra bytes that are essentially spam. The company official argues that preparation for GPRS is continuing in the city. Shanghai already has 3,000 GPRS customers for the pilot, and the company is in talks with more than 80 service providers for services including mobile commerce, positioning, mobile banking and multimedia. The official said they do not want to engage in the game of launch time with Unicom, a major competitor of China Mobile, because they want to market the service "steadily" which is targeted for the first quarter. Unicom launched commercial CDMA earlier this week. The other reason is GPRS is only available in central city area and the company does not want to have too many customers who could get no signal. Billing is the other reason. During the pilot, users pay a monthly fee of 20 yuan ($2.4) which covers 500KB of data traffic. Overflow traffic is charged by KB. For example, if a user reads ten news stories a day, he will use 1.5MB or about 60 yuan a month ($7.2). The company has not decided whether this will be used for commercial service, and more time is need for further study. From People's Post and Telecom, Page 7, Wednesday, March 27, 2002 info@AsiaPort.Com kiplinger.com