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16
June 2003 - Following the successful completion of the
piloting and test program, Nokia has started shipments
of the Nokia 6650 mobile phone to selected mobile operators
and retailers in Europe and Asia, including Japan. Operators
will now be able to provide their customers with the
Nokia 6650 as a standard GSM phone, a WCDMA phone or
a dual-mode GSM/WCDMA phone, depending on their network
architecture. The Nokia 6650 is the first mobile phone
in the market capable of seamless hand-overs between
GSM and WCDMA systems in a dual-mode network.
Consumers
will be able to enjoy global roaming on all GSM900/1800
networks globally as well as on WCDMA networks in Japan
and Europe. Those operators building WCDMA coverage
to complement their existing GSM900/1800 coverage can
now offer high data speed services of up to 384 kbps
with WCDMA, while having the full coverage of the GSM900/1800
grid in a single terminal with proven dual system capabilities,
tested for interoperability across the full range of
functionality with the leading infrastructure vendors.
"The
Nokia 6650 is a perfect companion for the traveling
business professional, who needs both high-speed data
services, such as the fast downloading of emails to
his laptop and access to information services, as well
as extensive roaming. For a Japanese user, the Nokia
6650 offers seamless roaming in Europe and Asia, and
for a GSM user, seamless roaming in Japan," said Juha
Putkiranta, Senior Vice President, Nokia Mobile Phones.
He
adds:"I would like to take this opportunity to thank
all those people who took part in our biggest ever field
pilot and testing program, in which we have been successfully
working out interoperability challenges and enhancing
the phone's capabilities. Almost 20 000 Nokia 6650 phones
were used in the pilot program. The commercial availability
of the Nokia 6650 will open the road for the commercial
3G service experience."
The
availability of services utilizing WCDMA technology
is determined by individual operator plans. As a result,
availability of the Nokia 6650 will vary by country
and by operator. The first operator shipments of the
Nokia 6650 commercial release will be delivered to J-Phone
and mobilkom austria during June. Nokia expects that
during the second half of 2003, approximately 20 operators
worldwide will introduce WCDMA either as their main
radio technology or as a complementary enhancement to
their existing GSM network.
Consumers
are already using a number of 3G services in current
networks: multimedia messaging, various types of downloading,
sending and receiving videos. While the underlying technology
is transparent to the consumer, mobile phone users will
see the benefits of WCDMA in faster and more convenient
service delivery, and in the introduction and availability
of new services, such as multitasking.
SOURCE
Nokia Press Release Back
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