Cingular Wireless has signed a supply agreement with Nortel Networks for GSM/GPRS infrastructure upgrades in its USA and Puerto Rico networks, as well as innovations designed to help reduce Cingular capital and operating expenses.
Under terms of an estimated US$500 million agreement signed in late November 2001, Nortel Networks will continue to support Cingular's growth needs in its GSM networks in North Carolina, South Carolina, coastal Georgia and eastern Tennessee for three years. With introduction of Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) Vocoders in terminals and network infrastructure, Cingular says that it can increase spectral efficiency by an additional 200%. Cingular estimates this technology will significantly reduce previously projected capital expenses for new radio equipment, as well as associated operational costs. The company did not however elaborate on how much those savings would be.
The agreement also includes a TDMA-to-GSM upgrade for the Cingular network in Puerto Rico which is expected to result in the first complete TDMA-to-GSM overlay in the Cingular Wireless network. Cingular Wireless expects to begin offering commercial GSM services in Puerto Rico in the second quarter of 2002."
Posted to the site on 7th March 2002
Posted to: www.cellular-news.com/story/6020.php