For Immediate Release
Vienna - Tuesday September 10th, 2002 - Hutchison 3G Austria, holder of an UMTS licence in Austria, announced today it has signed an agreement with Austria's number one GSM operator, Mobilkom to provide 2G national voice and data roaming.
Thanks to the agreement Hutchison 3G will have almost full national coverage for voice, GPRS and SMS services from the very first day of operation. Startingin Vienna, Graz and Linz Hutchison 3G is providing its own third generation mobile multimedia service (UMTS). With national roaming Hutchison 3G's customer will benefit from Mobilkom's GSM (2G) service in areas not yet covered by Hutchison 3G's multimedia network.
Berthold Thoma, CTO of Hutchison 3G, commented "This agreement is very important enabling us to deliver full coverage for our customers. With this national roaming agreement our customers are not only receiving their usual mobile telephony services they already know (GSM = 2G), but on top of it all they will benefit from Hutchison 3G's Multimedia services (UMTS = 3G)".
Hutchison 3G started negotiations will all four Austrian GSM mobile operators, ultimately choosing Mobilkom as they fulfilled all the criterias of a national roaming partner.
Thoma continues "Clearly the key factors from our side are the best Austrian GSM network regarding quality and coverage, costs and last but not least the stability of the partner. Mobilkom being the Austrian GSM market leader has a very professional perception in the market. Furthermore they ensured us to be able to execute the technical fulfilment in time."
The value of agreement was not disclosed.
For information, please contact:
Hutchison 3G | Maritheres PAUL | +43 1 74047 - 1240 |
+ 43 6991 346 3700 | ||
Mobilkom | Elisabeth Mattes | +43 1 331 61 2730 |
+ 43 664 331 2730 |
Note to Editors
Hutchison 3G Austria
Hutchison 3G Austria, a 100% company from Hutchison Whampoa Limited, headquartered in Hong Kong, is a mobile multimedia provider, not a mobile telephony company. Together with several European 3G operations from Hutchison in Great Britain, Italy, Sweden and Denmark multimedia products and services are developed and will be provided for mobile usage. 3G is the mobile convergence of media, internet and telecommunications.
The international standard 3G spans across Europe, Japan, China and other parts of Asia known as UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System). This standard is a key element of Hutchison's strategy, which is demonstrated by their international commitment and presence. Services will be focused on personalization and location specific applications that will provide significant added values for professionals and private customers alike. One of the core objectives of Hutchison 3G Austria is to provide comfortable solutions for personal information and entertainment for the mobile multimedia market.