Page 18 - Sphere No.8 (Mar 2003)

SPHERE
16
NTT DoCoMo
and KPN Mobile
acquire a 20% and
a 15% participation
respectively in
Hutchison 3G
UK via 3G
Holdings.
Wins 3G licences
in Australia,
Denmark and
Hong Kong.
US$4.6 billion
facility finalised in
March to fund the
UK 3G business.
Announces plans
to set up a major
customer care
centre in Glasgow.
Agreement with
BT Cellnet and
TIM to provide
2G national voice
and data roaming
in UK and Italy
respectively.
In May, forms
strategic alliance
with Telecom
Corp of New
Zealand (19.9%)
to operate 3G
business in
Australia.
Various UMTS
network
infrastructure
suppliers selected
for Australia,
Sweden, the UK,
and Italy.
3’s an In-Crowd!
I T TOOK ALMOST 250 SURVEYS
and 130,000 interviews in eight
countries to develop a picture of
what customers want and expect
from 3G technology.
The result was to create a
marketing and retail strategy to put
3’s services and products at the heart
of the “in-crowd” of early adopters
and to create a “road map” for mass
roll-out in the near future.
The global consumer study ex-
amined topics such as consumer and
business segmentation, the potential
appeal of products and services,
growth potential of the market,
pricing strategies, and what the 3
brand would mean to local
consumers in different countries.
The study helped 3 define specific
target segments, how much these
consumers would be prepared to pay,
and the sort of devices they would
prefer.
It also identified particular products
and services that resonate among
consumers. Among these, video-
calling, messaging, the convenience of
an all-in-one-device, and the ability to
“cherry-pick” content all emerged as
highly desirable features.
IN BOTH ITALYANDTHE UK, 3 HAS
undertaken the fastest network
build-out in the history of the global
mobile communications industry.
The Group has also made deals with
infrastructure suppliers in the other
countries where it has licences. These
are at various stages of construction,
and vendors include Alcatel, Ericsson,
Motorola, NEC, Nokia and Siemens.
Apart from hundreds of base
stations, complex application archi-
tecture platforms have been built to
decipher and process the diverse
content carried over the 3 networks.
The scale and scope of technical
integration taking place behind the
scenes is unprecedented in the
industry. Hundreds of people working
24 hours a day in shifts have applied
their collective expertise to make it
work, innovating and adapting on a
daily basis.
As the innovators, there has been no
roadmap to follow. The process has
been one of continued refinement and
expansion.
By early March 2003, the network in
Italy – built by Ericsson and Siemens-
NEC – covered over 40% of the
population in 100 cities with 2,400 base
stations installed.
“We have taken great care to analyse
and minimise the environmental
impact,” said Georges Perez, CTO of
H3G Italy. “Wherever possible we
share base station sites with other
operators and our acquisition of the
Blu network also helped speed up
our roll-out.We always look for designs
that blend in and we work with
local authorities and the public to
provide complete open and accurate
information.”
In the UK, population coverage has
reached approximately 50%, and the
network – supplied by NEC and Nokia
– continues to grow with an on-going
phased roll-out. Again, great care has
been taken to minimise the impact on
local surroundings and to work with
communities and local authorities.
All the handsets are dual mode, so
they can operate over 2G networks
where 3G coverage is not available.
In both the UK and Italy, 3 has
roaming agreements in place with
2G networks, including international
roaming in approximately 100
countries – so users may occasionally
be out of the picture, but they need
never be out of touch.
Building the Backbone
Wins 3G licences
in the UK, Italy,
Austria and
Sweden.
2000
2001