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To: Maurice Winn who wrote (46627)	2/24/2004 7:16:49 PM
From: elmatador	Respond to of 74559

Mobile handset makers blamed for 3G delays By Chris Nuttall in Cannes Published: February 24 2004 18:53 \| Last Updated: February 24 2004 18:53 news.ft.com. Europe's leading mobile operators on Tuesday blamed handset makers for delaying the full launch of their third-generation networks until the end of this year. Arun Sarin, Vodafone chief executive, told the 3GSM summit in Cannes that the networks of the continent's biggest operator were ready for 3G but the phones were not up to the job. His comments were echoed by Germany's T-Mobile and MMO2 of the UK. "We have deployed 3G, made sure our products and services are there and we are waiting and waiting and waiting," Mr Sarin said. "We can't turn the future on until we have handsets that are at least as good as the 2G and 2.5G ones we have. [3G phones] are bulky, they get hot, they don't have battery life. The experience today is unacceptable to our customers." Vodafone has confined itself to launching 3G products and services in seven countries this month, only making them available on data cards for laptop computers. Mr Sarin said it would be the fourth quarter before millions of suitable handsets would be delivered. T-Mobile's chief executive René Obermann said its 3G networks were up and running in Germany, Austria and the UK. "But we still don't have the devices at hand, so we did not think it was good enough to launch. We cannot disappoint our customers by introducing inferior devices." 3G represents the biggest bet made by Europe's mobile operators, with billions of euros spent on acquiring licences for the next-generation high-speed services. But while most of the problems associated with the technology have been overcome, limitations in the handsets built to use it have continued to frustrate operators. Mr Sarin said Vodafone was now monitoring the handset makers' progress closely, including Nokia, Motorola, Samsung and other manufacturers, and was confident it would have millions of low-, mid- and top-tier phones available for a "proper 3G launch" in the fourth quarter. MMO2 is expected to announce next month a launch date for its German and Irish 3G services, but Peter Erskine, chief executive, said on Tuesday that services would start in major UK cities in the autumn. France Telecom chief executive Thierry Breton was more upbeat on Monday: "The terminals are finally here that we finally like." But he added that Orange's launch would go "slowly but surely" with coverage available in 20 cities in France and 10 in the UK by the end of the year. Analysts say operators have had repeatedly to push 3G launches back as they await handsets, with a slew of launches now likely at the end of the year. Michael Woolfrey, research director at the EMC consultancy, says he expects 26 networks to launch globally in the last three months of this year compared with six in the first three months.