TIM launches EDGE and sets its sights on UMTS

March 29, 2004

TIM's journey towards 3G has commenced and, in April, TIM, first operator in Italy, will launch EDGE, the wideband mobile network for high-speed data transmission. For TIM the launch of EDGE is absolutely complementary to the development of UMTS. During Telecom Day, when TIM met the financial community, the Company confirmed its UMTS launch strategy which will become operative for corporate users in June while the launch for the general public will coincide with Christmas 2004. And by the Christmas campaign there will be sufficient UMTS handsets to offer TIM's Italian customers 3G services.

On the occasion of "Telecom Day" TIM outlined the Company's road map for the roll-out of 3G services. In April EDGE will make the use of multimedia services more satisfactory for TIM customers both as concerns consumer market applications, such as the MMS or video streaming, and the more typically corporate applications such as e-mail management and Internet and Intranet navigation. EDGE is an evolution of the GPRS system and powerful multiplier of this system's performance. It can increase the speed of the network - at present 40 kbit/s - to 200 kbit/s, i.e speeds close to those achieved with UMTS (which has a maximum speed of about 384 kbit/s and an average of around 250 kbit/s).

TIM will distribute the first EDGE handsets through its own stores, and, thanks to this technology, the Company will really be able to train its sights on 3G services. However, at the end of last year such services were already performing extremely well. In this respect, for example, TIM exceeded all its own goals and, by December 2003, over 3 million MMS mobiles had been sold by TIM, while the number of MMS transmitted rocketed: more than 10 million MMS were sent in the sole period October - December 2003.

In addition, TIM will offer its customers dual mode mobiles, i.e. handsets able to use both EDGE and UMTS networks. The entire line of the new EDGE and UMTS mobiles, which provide high-speed access, will be called "TIM TURBO". Thanks to this strategy TIM will offer each customer the quantity of bandwidth necessary according to the service requested, regardless of which of the two networks he or she is currently using. In addition, EDGE will provide coverage in areas still not served by the UMTS network, thus guaranteeing customers high service quality. Thus EDGE, will not be in competition with UMTS, but, instead, will provide a complementary function to 3G when this service is launched, and will provide the bandwidth needed to bring large-band cellular technology to TIM's over 26 million Italian lines.

EDGE technology can be implemented by updating GSM/GPRS network software, without the need for installing new base radio stations. Furthermore, TIM's UMTS network has been ready for some time: in the main Italian cities it covers 90% of the population and by this summer it will have exceeded the coverage requirements laid down in the national invitation to tender. Furthermore, TIM, has already launched the EDGE network in Brazil and has already carried out the commercial launch of UMTS in Greece, through its subsidiary TIM Hellas.

In conclusion, Mauro Sentinelli, General Manager of TIM laid down the guidelines for the development of 3G services : "Once again TIM finds itself at an important crossroads" - stated Mauro Sentinelli during Telecom Day - " but the most important step forward in technological terms and network structure has already been taken with the launch of EDGE, whose development ushers in third generation of mobile telephony".

In the course of the meeting with financial community TIM confirmed its leading role in the Italian market of the cellular phone industry, in terms of market share and the launch of innovative services. Thus, TIM, has introduced "Mobile TV", which transmits TV channels on the mobile phone through the GPRS network. The service, which TIM launched on the Italian market last October, is not only the first such service in the world but also a great success: at present about 50% of the mobiles able to receive the service have registered at least one access to "Mobile TV".