Telekom awards €1 bln in 3G pacts

date: 21st December 2000, source: Telecom Click

Deutsche Telekom, Europe's largest phone company, said it signed letters of intent to buy €1 billion worth of 3G mobile network equipment from Siemens, Nortel Networks and Nokia, the world's largest maker of wireless phones.

T-Mobile International, Telekom's cellular unit, said it hopes to finalize the accords, worth 350 million Euro per supplier, in the first quarter with the networks becoming operational in 2002 after tests next year.

Telekom shares fell 2.5 percent to €34.1 in mid-day trade while Nokia fell 8.3 percent in Helsinki to 762.14 Euro. Siemens gained 2.1 percent to 132.77.

"By choosing leading suppliers, we lay not only a building block for a standardized UMTS network within the T-Mobile group, but also that we get first-class UMTS products on the market as soon as possible," said T-Mobile CEO Kai-Uwe Ricke in a statement.

Investors have become weary of the high costs of securing 3G, or Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems, licences and building corresponding networks. It's unclear how much companies will make from mobile networks that can transmit high volumes of data allowing such things as mobile video transmission.

Max Mobil

T-Mobile includes cellular operators One 2 One in the U.K., Austria's Max Mobil and T-Mobil in Germany. The unit says it has over 35 million customers throughout central and eastern Europe.

top