Lucent and Novatel Wireless to supply 3 with 3G UMTS PC card modems

April 7, 2004

Lucent Technologies, Novatel Wireless and 3 announced an agreement to UMTS wireless PC cards to 3 customers in Australia, Denmark, Italy and Sweden. The agreement is available to other 3 markets worldwide.

The Merlin U530 PC cards were jointly developed by Lucent and Novatel Wireless and will enable 3 to offer its customers high speed wireless access to the internet and corporate intranet.

The PC cards operate on 3's 3G networks at speeds up to 384 kilobytes per second, allowing customers to have all the benefits of high speed access to the internet and corporate intranet, while allowing them to be fully mobile.

Under the terms of the contract, Lucent and Novatel Wireless will supply 3 with the Merlin U530 PC cards, as well as system software and services.

"The Merlin U530 PC cards are a great addition to our 3G mobile product offerings," said Tim Gallagher, from 3's global procurement team. "This agreement with Lucent and Novatel Wireless puts 3 in a great position to meet the demand from business customers for high-speed access to internet-based services and corporate networks on their laptop PCs."

"3 already offers a high-speed data mobility capability with its 3G network and handsets. The cards supplied by Lucent and Novatel Wireless provide the ideal complementary device to provide PC data mobility," Mr Gallagher said.

Lucent has conducted substantial primary research on the market for mobile high-speed data services, sponsoring a series of in-depth market studies that revealed substantial demand for 3G mobile data access among businesses, particularly for mobile office types of applications such as e-mails with data-heavy attachments, and corporate Intranet and Internet access.

Lucent also has been conducting joint UMTS pilot networks deployments with operators in Europe, and recently conducted evaluations of these efforts. Feedback from the pilots has demonstrated the readiness of Lucent's UMTS offer and the benefits of its high-speed data solutions with end users. Businesses involved in the trials have outlined benefits such as increased customer facing time by up to 11% on average per week, more effective out of office employee productivity and increased potential for sales growth.

"The Merlin U530 cards will enable 3's customers to take advantage of the super-fast mobile data services that 3G UMTS networks make possible," said David Poticny, president, Lucent Europe, Middle East and Africa. "These services are particularly attractive to business users, and these agreements put 3 in an ideal position to start tapping the enormous demand for mobile data services in the business market."

"We look forward to working with 3 and Lucent on this deployment, and appreciate this opportunity to demonstrate the advantages that 3G UMTS has to offer consumers and businesses," said Peter Leparulo, CEO of Novatel Wireless.