The partnership between Orange and AIL utilities is at the core of this proposition in Lugano. A growing number of cities offer their inhabitants wireless internet access. The city of Lugano and its utilities company, AIL, offer wireless internet access via UMTS and HSDPA.
"Mobile internet access responds to an indisputable need among both business and private customers. It can therefore qualify as a public service such as electricity, gas and water."
"With AIL wireless, our services are based on mobile telephony technology rather than on Wireless LAN. This allows us to offer mobile internet access to our customers not only in Lugano but in all of Switzerland and even abroad. With HSDPA, we can achieve transmission rates that until now were only possible with ADSL and Wireless LAN", says Nelio Rigamonti, Director of AIL.
Extensive coverage for Geneva and Zurich will follow in the summer. By the end of 2007, the cities of St. Gallen, Basel, Lucerne, Bern, and Lausanne will also be covered by HSDPA.
The Mobile World subscriber database reports that Orange Switzerland ended last year with just under 1.4 million customers - representing a market share of 19%"
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