Novatel announces quad band 3G PC card in South Africa

January 31, 2005

Novatel Wireless, a provider of wireless broadband access solutions, announced shipments of Merlin U630 Wireless PC Card Modems to Vodacom, South Africa's mobile operator. Novatel Wireless supplied Vodacom with South Africa's first quad band UMTS PC Card modem that offers high-speed broadband access over Vodacom's UMTS network. Vodacom recently launched its 3G service and provides mobile service to more than 6.5 million customers in South Africa, Tanzania, Lesotho and the DRC.

As a supplier of 3G data cards for Vodafone, Novatel Wireless supplied its Merlin U630 to Vodacom, following the partnership between Vodacom and Vodafone announced last year. Targeting business customers, Vodacom will market the Merlin U630 card as the 3G Vodafone Mobile Connect datacard, South Africa's first high-speed laptop data card.

Once the Vodafone Mobile Connect datacard is inserted into a laptop, Vodacom subscribers are able to wirelessly email, surf the Internet and download attachments at speeds of up to 384 kilobits per second. The Mobile Connect Card offers wireless data access on UMTS 2100 MHz bands in Asia, Africa and Europe and GSM/GPRS 900/1800/1900 MHz bands worldwide. 3G subscribers can have access to corporate databases and information stored behind firewalls. 'Always on' connectivity enables mobile workers to retrieve data, stay connected to partners and customers, and remain productive when outside the office.

"3G services enable mobile workers to have wireless access to anything they should need - from email to the Web to corporate networks," said Pieter Uys, Vodacom Group Chief Operating Officer.

"Novatel Wireless is committed to rolling out wireless broadband access across the world, and our partnership with Vodacom takes us one step further by providing the first quad band 3G UMTS PC Cards to South Africans," said Rob Hadley, senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing at Novatel Wireless.