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Pannon GSM launches commercial 3G in Hungary
October 12, 2005
The public test has been successful, so Pannon GSM launches its commercial 3G service announced Ove Fredheim, the mobile operator's CEO. Video calls - that still can be tested free of charge until 31st December - will be priced at 110 forints per minute outside Pannon GSM's network, and only 90 forints inside the network at any time of the day.
Not even a year passed since Pannon GSM had been awarded the most valuable frequency package of the Hungarian UMTS tender, and the company's management already announced the service's commercial launch. Pannon GSM customers have been able to publicly test the 3G network since 15th June, and, following the success of the test, the mobile broadband technology with the fastest data speed is up and running regularly in Pannon GSM's network.
"Bandwidth growth means, first of all, opportunities" - said Pannon GSM CEO Ove Fredheim, "that can be utilised by expanding our current service portfolio, by offering new entertainment and business solutions and new content as well." The pricing of Pannon GSM's content and data services does not depend on particular technologies, users pay the regular prices for downloaded music, videos, live TV streams, internet browsing, e-mailing, even if they're using the 3G network.
Ove Fredheim stressed that the highly competitive pricing of video calls is aimed to encourage more and more customers to try video telephony, 3G-s unique feature, while Pannon GSM is also dedicated to the development of other mobile broadband services. „More than a hundred thousand Pannon GSM subscribers are equipped with EDGE-capable handsets, and ours is Hungary's widest mobile broadband network, which is available for more than half of the Hungarian population" - said the CEO. „Our constantly expanding content portfolio, favourable internet opportunities, our integrated mobile office solutions all serve the same goal: that more and more people use mobile broadband" - he added.
Pannon GSM' 3G network is available in the central districts of Budapest, by the end of the year most of the capital will be covered. The expansion of the full mobile broadband network is going on as well, coverage already reaches 50 percent of the population. Pannon GSM will soon start testing HSDPA, the ultra-high speed 3G technology, in its network.
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