Partner and Nortel complete HSDPA trial in Israel

May 23, 2005

Partner Communications Company and Nortel have successfully completed a trial of high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) wireless broadband technology over its live cellular network in Tel Aviv. Partner is joining a limited number of cellular networks around the world which intend to implement HSDPA.

HSDPA has the ability to deliver broadband wireless at speeds of up to three times faster than today's commercially deployed UMTS networks, offering a true mobile broadband experience to subscribers comparable to DSL or ADSL.

The trial, showcased in Tel Aviv, is the first time HSDPA technology has been demonstrated by any operator or wireless infrastructure supplier in Israel. Nortel and Partner demonstrated advanced wireless and multimedia broadband services, including high-speed music transfers (MP3), DVD-quality video streaming and downloads of large e-mail attachments. The demonstrations were performed simultaneously with two different computers with connection speeds of more than 1 mega bit per second (mbps) over a UMTS network provided by Nortel.

"We are proud to have successfully completed Israel's first HSDPA wireless broadband trial on a live cellular network," said Alon Berman, vice president, Technologies, Partner.

"We are proud to mark this milestone with Partner," said Alain Biston, vice president, GSM/UMTS, Nortel. "Nortel was the first company in the industry to complete live test calls using HSDPA technology from moving automobiles with commercial mobile phones."

HSDPA is the next generation of UMTS, which enables a significant increase in the rate of data downloads. This improvement will enable Partner's customers to enhance their user experience beyond their current experience with UMTS:

-- Feature rich applications - faster and better quality video and audio services as well as advanced interactive services

-- Faster data rates - connecting laptops to high speed mobile Internet services at data rates of 3.6-14.4 mbps

-- Higher network capacity - capable of supporting up to three times as much data traffic and up to twice as many wireless users per cell site.

In 2003 Partner selected Nortel to supply Israel's first 3G UMTS network. Today, Partner's commercial UMTS network covers 92% of the population in Israel.