3G Trials Underway in Belgium

Almost two months earlier than foreseen, Belgium's Proximus has started the technical launch of its UMTS network. This launch is an essential phase in the roll-out process for this new technology, and a prelude to the market launch planned for 2005 at the latest.

On 8 February 2002, the Minister for Telecommunications, Public Enterprises and Participations decided to postpone for a further year the roll-out of UMTS, as written into the licenses allocated by the Belgian State in March 2001. The technical opening of the network was scheduled to take place before 15 September 2003, with a 30% coverage of the population before January 2006.

By investing in UMTS technology, Proximus intends to offer its customers a comprehensive mobile solution for access to the information they need, regardless of the type of technology they use, i.e., GSM, GPRS, UMTS or Wireless LAN. On top of that, Proximus continues to invest in its GSM/GPRS network, spending over US$80 million in 2003.

On 30 June 2003, Proximus had 4,159,000 active customers, i.e., 89,000 more active customers than at the end of 2002. There were 4,310,000 SIM cards on the network (1,778,000 subscribers and 2,532,000 Pay&Go), compared to 4,253,000 at the end of 2002 (+57,000 cards). During the first quarter of 2003, the percentage of active customers rose slightly, from 96% to 96.5%."

Posted to the site on 28th July 2003