mobilkom austria plans 3G blanket coverage by summer 2005 in Austria

January 20, 2005

Telekom Austria announced that its Austrian mobile subsidiary, mobilkom austria, plans the rollout of an Austria-wide 3G full-coverage network by mid 2005, based on a smart combination of EDGE and UMTS technology, known as UMTS PLUS; while its Croatian mobile subsidiary VIPnet is the first Croatian mobile operator to launch a commercial UMTS network for its customers, following the signing of the license agreement only one month ago.

mobilkom austria - Austria Boris Nemsic, Telekom Austria COO Wireless and mobilkom austria CEO said: "The economic rationale behind the deployment of EDGE in Austria as a complementary technology, in addition to UMTS, is that it prevents the construction of further transmission stations in the rural area." At the end of 2004, UMTS coverage amounted to 60% of the population. The Integration of EDGE in the UMTS network by summer 2005 will allow a 95% coverage. UMTS PLUS combines the respective assets of both EDGE and UMTS technology. The first UMTS PLUS handset is already available.

The success of the 3G card in Austria was particularly instrumental for the launch of UMTS PLUS.

VIPnet - Croatia VIPnet's new broadband Internet service "City Broadband" offers customers UMTS access, and the company's Vodafone Mobile Connect UMTS/GPRS datacard allows Internet transmission rates of up to 384 kbit/s in 91 Croatian cities.

With the rollout of the EDGE technology in April 2004, VIPnet was among the first European operators to provide national 3G coverage. In October 2004, VIPnet acquired a UMTS license. The license agreement was signed on December 16, 2004 and stipulated the achievement of 25% network coverage within a two-year time period. VIPnet has practically met this obligation only one month after the signing of the agreement.