Bite to launch 3G in Lithuania and Latvia
February 27, 2006
Telecommunications company Bite Lietuva will start providing 3G (UMTS) services right after receiving of all relevant permissions for 3G network exploitation. Its is planned that already in April "Bite" will present new data transmission possibilities and the most advanced 3G portal in the Baltics "Bite plius". 3G services will first be presented in April for the citizens of five biggest cities and until autumn they will be expanded to more than 20 Lithuanian cities. Later 3G will be implemented in 40 cities of the country. The company will also start offering 3G services in Latvia in June. The company forecasts that its investments into 3G network in Lithuania will reach 1 billion Litas in ten years period.
"Presenting 3G in Lithuania and Latvia, we will offer services that are relevant and useful for our customers, putting the biggest focus on high quality of these services", - CEO of Bite Group Maarten van Engeland said. According to him, UMTS is an effective technology allowing to increase the network capacity and the speed of data transmission.
3G will bring new possibilities for both private and business customers. "3G will open new mobile office perspectives first of all", - M. van Engeland said. According to him, 3G will bring new possibilities for "Bite biz mobile internet" users who will work outside office faster and more conveniently. "Bite" customers can already buy 3G mobile data cards for this purpose which can operate both on 3G and GSM networks.
According to M. van Engeland, when expanding 3G services, "Bite" will launch totally new "Bite plius" 3G portal which will be the most advanced mobile portal in the Baltic countries. It is planned that this portal will feature live broadcast of 20 world TV channels and various local TV programme archives adapted for 3G service and many other novelties. Video calls will also become a novelty for the market.
"Bite" will offer its customers the best service delivery and possibility to use data transmission services conveniently all over the country by combining the possibilities of 3G and EDGE. "This is an outstanding settlement even compared to many world operators", - M. van Engeland said. Currently "Bite's" EDGE network is accessible to more than 2 million inhabitants and 90 percent of businessmen of Lithuania. The fastest data transmission speed will be ensured for "Bite" customers also by HSDPA technology which allows up to 20 times faster real data transmission speed compared to EDGE (2-3 MBps).
During 2006 at least 20 new 3G enabled mobile phone models will be available in the market. 3G models are already available in "Bite" outlets. It is forecasted that in five years most of the customers will own 3G phones. According to the company's estimations, 3G services will be available for up to half of the Lithuanian population in 2006.
Being a member of TDC group, "Bite" will use its international experience while introducing and providing 3G services in Lithuania and Latvia. TDC group companies started offering 3G services at the end of 2004, when a virtual operator "Talkline" in Germany, belonging to TDC Group, started offering these services using local networks of "T-Mobile", "Vodafone" and the beginning of last year also bys using the network of "E-Plus". In October of 2005 3G services were presented in Denmark. In December of 2005 3G services were launched by "Sunrise", the operator belonging to TDC in Switzerland.
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