Pelephone awards Nortel 3G EV-DO contract

March 19, 2004

Israeli mobile operator Pelephone has chosen Nortel Networks to deploy CDMA2000 1X EV-DO wireless network worth $45 million. Nortel was chosen ahead of Motorola and Lucent Technologies.

The first stage of rollout will focus on the Tel Aviv area and expected to be complete in August. A full commercial operation in most of Israel would begin at the end of September.

Pelephone selected EV-DO for its 3G system because the operator is currently using CDMA 1X technology for its mobile network. EV-DO is an evolution of CDMA 1X that only requires a relatively simple upgrade and is a cheaper alternative than the European backed WCDMA network. Rivals Cellcom and Partner plan to rollout 3G services using WCDMA networks this year.

Samsung Electronics will be among the first handset suppliers for Pelephone.

EV-DO technology allows users to download music and video files at 2.4 megabits per second. South Korea and Japan were two of the first countries to deploy the technology. While both countries have commercially functioning CDMA2000 and WCDMA networks, CDMA2000 subscribers outnumber those of WCDMA.