No-one Expects the Spanish 3G

February 17, 2004 - source: BWCS

Telefónica Móviles España has officially launched its 3G service today. The company's corporate customers can now subscribe to the 'Oficin@ MoviStar UMTS', package. The Spanish giant proudly announced that this is the first next generation mobile phone services to go live in Spain.

The package consists of a UMTS/GPRS card which initially allows users to download up to 150 MegaBytes of data for free. According to the mobile operator 500 of its largest corporate customers have been trialling the service since October 2003. In total Telefónica reports that some 2,500 customers participated in the trials. The GPRS element will allow users to continue receiving data in areas not yet covered by the company's 3G network.

Last week, Vodafone announced the launch of its first 3G service for laptop users. The mobile giant's 3G/Gprs datacard allows portable pc users to connect to corporate networks at speeds of up 384kbps. The service is being introduced by Vodafone in the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK over the next month. The company insists that this release follows widespread trials of the service across Europe, which it says involved thousands of corporate customers.

Both Vodafone and Telefónica say they plan to introduce 3G consumer services in the next few months, with an enhanced range of 3G devices and services scheduled to be made available later in the year.