First High-speed Global Mobile Data Roaming Trials
British Telecommunications PLC
2 March 2000
BT AND AT&T MOBILE ALLIANCE ANNOUNCES FIRST
HIGH-SPEED GLOBAL MOBILE DATA ROAMING TRIALS
Advance, the BT and AT&T global mobile alliance, today
announced that BTCellnet, AT&T Wireless Services,
SmarTone of Hong Kong and Taiwan's FarEasTone will
conduct the world's first general packet radio services
(GPRS) pre-commercial roaming trial.
The trials will start in the second quarter of this
year and will ensure the companies gain the essential
learning required to enable them to lead the development
and implementation of high speed data mobile roaming
services. The trial also aims to assess network
stability, integration of network and connectivity. GPRS
is a new technology for transmitting data over GSM mobile
networks. It will be commercially available in the second
half of 2000 and will provide customers in Hong Kong,
Taiwan and the UK with mobile data connections at more than
twice the speed of today's desktop modems.
AT&T Wireless Services, Inc., will establish a non-
commercial test network in New York City, Basking Ridge,
New Jersey, Menlo Park, California and Redmond,
Washington to support the trial. While AT&T Wireless uses
TDMA technology in the United States, its GPRS
project will help evolve the company to TDMA-EDGE third
generation digital technology which includes a new
generation of GSM technology. The combined TDMA-GSM
convergence to EDGE will provide eventually coverage to
most major population centres around the world.
Ian Stone, chief executive officer of SmarTone,
said: 'We are highly confident in being able to conduct
successful trials on GPRS roaming service. The co-
operation between the four companies is a building block
for even stronger partnerships on top of our current
close working relations.'
Jordan Roderick, executive vice president of AT&T
Wireless' international division, said: 'This is another
example of how our companies can together create new
services and products for customers.'
Peter Richardson, director of BTCellnet corporate,
said: 'Clearly by our four companies working together we
will gain competitive advantage and work towards creating
seamless mobile communication services around the world
for our customers.'
Joseph O'Konek, president of Far EasTone, said:
'This announcement demonstrates the importance of our
global and regional alliance to consumers in Taiwan, Hong
Kong, the UK and the US. The strength of GSM's success
has been its global roaming capabilities. Extending
global roaming for high speed data services ensures our
customers will have access to their information where
they need it.'
While other service providers in the world are still
talking about the construction of GPRS systems,
BTCellnet, AT&T Wireless, FarEasTone and SmarTone lead
others by already starting to employ GPRS and data
applications.
AT&T already has a strong national data network
employing Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) and will
eventually move its customers to high speed EDGE
technology.
For customers, browsing the Internet will become
simple, fast and convenient. Compared with the
capabilities offered now, GPRS transmits data in excess
of 115 kbps. New value added services will be provided
to users on the move with news bulletins and information
tailored to their requirements. GPRS will also be suitable
for video and multi-media applications. New GPRS modems
and phones will be required for customers who want to use
the new services.
GPRS uses packet-switching data-handling technology.
Information is transported as a series of 'packets',
rather than a continuous stream of bits. This technology
maximises the efficiency of network resources and enables
users to be always connected and on-line.
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