Ericsson involve in Italian Hutchison 3G UMTS launch
November 13, 2002
Ericsson Italia's CEO Massimo Gentili said large scale UMTS service
will be launched in Italy next month using technology from Ericsson.
Three, unit of Hutchison Whampoa, will be the first to the market,
Gentili said at a press conference in Rome and will be followed
by TIM and Wind early next year.
The company also supplied equipment to Austrian mobile operator
Mobilkom which launched limited 3G services in September. The network
covered only 25% of the Austrian population, but Three will have
3G services in 20 major cities of a much large country when it launches
3G in Italy, Gentili said.
Mobilkom is gearing up to begin offering commercial services on
its already 'live' next generation mobile phone network before the
end of the year.
"Italy is the most advanced mobile telecommunications market in
Europe," Gentili said. "The platform we are developing for Italy
will later be used in other countries."
He boasted, "The only three networks in operation in Italy at the
beginning of next year will be those created by Ericsson."
"GSM is destined to disappear by the end of next year, thanks to
an aggressive marketing campaign by the operators," he said and
predicts 2 million Italians will have 3G handsets by the end of
next year.
Luigi De Vecchis, CEO of Siemens Mobile Communications in Milan,
responded by saying, "Those who have chosen Siemens, such as H3G
and TIM in Italy and at least one operator in every European country,
did so for the stability of our technology and the competence of
our group, which was active in UMTS before any other supplier,"
He went on to say, "We also believe we are a step ahead of everyone
else in Italy thanks to our constant commitment to research."
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3G Motorola A920
