Nokia powers Smart's HSDPA network in the Philippines

June 20, 2006

After the first High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) call in a live WCDMA network in the country, Philippines' leading wireless service provider Smart Communications (SMART) launched their HSDPA network. The solution, provided by Nokia, allows Smart to operate its network more cost-efficiently and offer its customers data services at speeds of up to four times faster than current 3G speeds.

"Our aim is to revolutionize mobile communications by enabling our subscribers to access data-rich multimedia content and application right through their handset," said Rolando Peña, Network Services Division head at Smart Communications. "To accomplish this, our engineers are working round-the-clock to establish the widest 3G network in the country in the shortest possible time."

To date, Smart has deployed more than 1,000 3G base station sites across the country. This allows more subscribers to enjoy Smart 3G services such as video calling, video streaming, high speed Internet browsing and downloading of data-rich content like full music tracks and video clips.

"Nokia is pleased to have met our rollout challenge with Smart. Deploying HSDPA is just a simple software upgrade to the Nokia supplied WCDMA network. It is for this reason why it was easy for us to make the first HSDPA call in the country which was just a month after 3G network was operational in February," says Markku Nieminen, Account Director, Networks, Nokia.

Nokia is supplying the HSDPA solution to Smart as part of the WCDMA 3G network contract announced in January 2006. Nokia has been the sole network supplier to Smart since 1998.