ELISA to introduce 3G in November

June 22, 2004

During 2004, Elisa will introduce high-speed data connections to its customers. Already in some parts of the Elisa mobile network the customers use faster connections than in normal data communications. For customers, high-speed mobile data connections mean more fluent handling of emails and the respective attachment files, plus a possibility to send moving images. High-speed data connections also mean improvement in the use of the wireless Internet.

"In early May, Elisa launched the Vodafone data card for mobile use. The demand for it exceeded all our estimates. During the first month we sold over 1,000 cards. Data cards were purchased by both companies and consumers. To our opinion, an important selection criterion was the concept's easiness of use. Several of our customers have been surprised that adopting and using mobile data is really easy. New technologies must also meet service users' quality requirements and they must support seamless and technology-independent usability in different networks," says Executive Vice President Pasi Lehmus, Elisa.

Mobile data is mainly used for sending and receiving emails, and for surfing on the Internet. Increasing attachment file sizes demand faster speeds to facilitate flexible use. Therefore, as of the beginning of November, Elisa will offer 3G UMTS technology-based data connections that are faster than present ones. Elisa is going to build a mobile network which is based on 3G UMTS technology within the earlier announced investment framework. Substantially faster connections (5-10 times higher) will first be opened for customer use in the Helsinki Metropolitan area, Tampere, Turku and Oulu. The customers can already benefit from local high-speed mobile data connections automatically if they have access to a terminal that supports EDGE technology.

"At the latter part of the year there is going to be a larger number of terminals which will support mobile data connections provided by Elisa. In addition to mobile phones, we will also offer Vodafone's new high-speed data card to our customers by the end of the year. Mobile devices' data transfer speeds, familiar from ISDN or broadband, will have a considerable impact on service use habits," states Lehmus.