Austria to Launch 3G with Free Calls Offer

Austria's Mobilkom says that it will begin consumer sales of 3G handsets from April 25th. The company has been running trials of the network since last September with friendly users. "We have brought our network up to the state-of-the-art in the past six months, and are now opening it up to our customers," says Dr. Boris Nemsic, CEO of mobilkom austria and COO Wireless, Telekom Austria.

Since the pre-launch of the 3G network last September, mobilkom austria has increased its population coverage to 42%. The 54 largest cities in Austria - with the exception of Salzburg - are now covered. "Our goal is to quickly make the high level of quality, which our customers rightfully expect of us, possible in the third generation as well," says Nemsic. "But 3G can only become a success if it is seen as the evolution of the second generation, and mobilkom austria has already laid the foundation for this." In order to be able to offer a 3G network of the appropriate quality with the launch, mobilkom austria has erected roughly 1,000 stations in the past months and made investments of 72 million EUR. The multi-vendor strategy - Ericsson and Nortel carried out the network buildup together - was decisive for the rapid and trouble-free realization of Austria's first 3G network.

"Beginning April 25th, Siemens U10 terminals will be available in selected A1 Shops. The new mobile phones can be used in the A1 3G network free of charge until the middle of July. The first A1 3G mobile phones are being used since yesterday by well-known personalities in politics as well as opinion leaders in business, who are experiencing the new speed and mobility through these handsets," explains Dr. Hannes Ametsreiter, Director of Marketing, Distribution and Customer Services for mobilkom austria. Beginning April 25th, Siemens U10 terminals will be available at selected A1 Shops throughout Austria for the first-time registration price of EUR 799. In the future, mobilkom austria will be offering a wide variety of mobile phones from different manufacturers that can be used both in the second (GSM, GPRS) as well as in the third generation of mobile communications.

"We are dedicating this launch of the first 3G network to our customers. Mobile communication has become a part of everyday communication for Austrians. In the same way, this next technological step will be come integrated in our customers everyday lives," concludes Nemsic. How quickly this will happen also depends on the responsible politicians: "We are asking that UMTS be kept free of regulations in order to support competition, and that during the upcoming regulatory decisions, the investment needs, the many uses for 3G as well as the speed factor be considered."

Posted to the site on 16th April 2003