Nortel and Vodafone Spain Demonstrate Evolution of 3G
Barcelona, Spain (ots/PRNewswire)
- 3.6 Megabits Per Second Mobile Service at 3GSM World Congress
Nortel(x) (NYSE/TSX: NT) and Vodafone Spain will be demonstrating mobile calls at 3.6 Megabits per second at the 3GSM World Congress 2006 in Barcelona, Spain, 13 to 16 February. At these rates customers have access to higher speed broadband than the majority of European fixed broadband connections operating at 2 Megabits per second, providing truly mobile broadband connectivity while 1.8 megabits per second will initially be rolled out commercially.
Nortel has upgraded Vodafone Spain's UMTS network covering the world congress location in Barcelona to deliver live HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access) services to a select number of customers' handsets and laptop datacards across the 3GSM world congress event. Both Vodafone Spain and Nortel will use the HSDPA network to support demonstrations for customers and organisations about the mobile services that they can expect to benefit from when the solution is rolled out.
In addition, further demonstrations of the potential of UMTS services in spare spectrum at 900MHz will be given at 3GSM to illustrate its potential use in delivering better mobile broadband coverage. Vodafone and Nortel support the authorization of 900MHz for UMTS services in various European regions, including Spain, to increase the availability of mobile broadband services. UMTS in the 900 MHz band is a cost effective way of delivering nationwide high-speed mobile coverage by providing up to 60 percent site reduction savings in rural areas as well as improved Quality of Service through enhanced in-building penetration by 25 percent in urban areas.
Corporate demonstrations of HSDPA and UMTS will use 3G datacards in laptops to show how employees can use mobile broadband to stay connected to corporate networks and benefit from secure connectivity that provides instant messaging, large file data transfer as well as new applications for the mobile workforce. Demonstrations of the consumer applications for HSDPA will involve new handsets with high quality live TV, High Definition video on demand, MP3 streaming and presence awareness amongst groups of friends.
"Vodafone has seen a huge increase in the number of 3G (UMTS) users in Spain in the last few months, with Christmas being a very busy period," said Fergal Kelly, Director, Global Radio & Access Networks, Vodafone. "Providing a clear evolution of these services in both speed, by upgrading to HSDPA with Nortel, and coverage, through the potential use of the 900MHz spectrum in Spain is vital to highlight where our services are moving and how we are going to continue to delight our customers into 2006 and beyond."
"As we lead the transition of HSDPA from the laboratory into live, commercial, deployments, we are working hard with operators such as Vodafone to highlight the personal and work benefits increased broadband mobile coverage can bring," said Alain Biston, Vice-President GSM/UMTS Portfolio at Nortel. "At 3GSM World Congress, we are aiming to show how to bring true Enterprise mobility and connectivity to Europe as well as how to deliver the entertainment services of the future."
Details of the Nortel and Vodafone HSDPA solutions will be presented during the Technology Symposium session "Optimizing the 3G Experience". Alain Biston, GSM and UMTS vice-president, Nortel will present this on February 16 at 11:00 am during the Technology Symposium in the 3GSM World Congress conference sessions.
About Vodafone
Vodafone Spain is part of Vodafone Group Plc, the world's leading mobile communications company with a presence in 27 countries and Partner Networks in a further 31 countries, spanning 5 continents. Providing a full range of mobile telecommunications services, including voice and data communications, Vodafone currently serves more than 179 million proportionate customers worldwide. Close to 13 million Vodafone customers in Spain benefit from the experience and capabilities of a World leading company helping individuals, businesses and communities to be more connected in a mobile world.
Vodafone is a truly global organisation, recognised worldwide for its quality of service and product innovation. Vodafone's latest global service offering, Vodafone live! opens up a world of mobile colour communication offering messages with photos and videos, as well as television, videogames, polyphonic ring tones and real music, news, e-mail, chat and location-based services. Vodafone live! is available in 23 countries and currently has over 38 million active customers worldwide.
About Nortel
Nortel is a recognized leader in delivering communications capabilities that enhance the human experience, ignite and power global commerce, and secure and protect the world's most critical information. Our next-generation technologies, for both service providers and enterprises, span access and core networks, support multimedia and business-critical applications, and help eliminate today's barriers to efficiency, speed and performance by simplifying networks and connecting people with information. Nortel does business in more than 150 countries. For more information, visit Nortel on the Web at www.nortel.com. For the latest Nortel news, visit www.nortel.com/news.
Certain information included in this press release is forward-looking and is subject to important risks and uncertainties. The results or events predicted in these statements may differ materially from actual results or events. Factors which could cause results or events to differ from current expectations include, among other things: the outcome of regulatory and criminal investigations and civil litigation actions related to Nortel's restatements and the impact any resulting legal judgments, settlements, penalties and expenses could have on Nortel's results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and any related potential dilution of Nortel's common shares; the findings of Nortel's independent review and implementation of recommended remedial measures; the outcome of the ongoing independent review with respect to revenues for specific identified transactions, which review will have a particular emphasis on the underlying conduct that led to the initial recognition of these revenues; the restatement or revisions of Nortel's previously announced or filed financial results and resulting negative publicity; the existence of material weaknesses in Nortel's internal control over financial reporting and the conclusion of Nortel's management and independent auditor that Nortel's internal control over financial reporting is ineffective, which could continue to impact Nortel's ability to report its results of operations and financial condition accurately and in a timely manner; the impact of Nortel's and NNL's failure to timely file their financial statements and related periodic reports, including Nortel's inability to access its shelf registration statement filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); the impact of management changes, including the termination for cause of Nortel's former CEO, CFO and Controller in April 2004; the sufficiency of Nortel's restructuring activities, including the work plan announced on August 19, 2004 as updated on September 30, 2004 and December 14, 2004, including the potential for higher actual costs to be incurred in connection with restructuring actions compared to the estimated costs of such actions; cautious or reduced spending by Nortel's customers; increased consolidation among Nortel's customers and the loss of customers in certain markets; fluctuations in Nortel's operating results and general industry, economic and market conditions and growth rates; fluctuations in Nortel's cash flow, level of outstanding debt and current debt ratings; Nortel's monitoring of the capital markets for opportunities to improve its capital structure and financial flexibility; Nortel's ability to recruit and retain qualified employees; the use of cash collateral to support Nortel's normal course business activities; the dependence on Nortel's subsidiaries for funding; the impact of Nortel's defined benefit plans and deferred tax assets on results of operations and Nortel's cash flow; the adverse resolution of class actions, litigation in the ordinary course of business, intellectual property disputes and similar matters; Nortel's dependence on new product development and its ability to predict market demand for particular products; Nortel's ability to integrate the operations and technologies of acquired businesses in an effective manner; the impact of rapid technological and market change; the impact of price and product competition; barriers to international growth and global economic conditions, particularly in emerging markets and including interest rate and currency exchange rate fluctuations; the impact of rationalization and consolidation in the telecommunications industry; changes in regulation of the Internet; the impact of the credit risks of Nortel's customers and the impact of customer financing and commitments; general stock market volatility; negative developments associated with Nortel's supply contracts and contract manufacturing agreements, including as a result of using a sole supplier for a key component of certain optical networks solutions; the impact of Nortel's supply and outsourcing contracts that contain delivery and installation provisions, which, if not met, could result in the payment of substantial penalties or liquidated damages; any undetected product defects, errors or failures; the future success of Nortel's strategic alliances; and certain restrictions on how Nortel and its president and chief executive officer conduct business. For additional information with respect to certain of these and other factors, see the most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed by Nortel with the SEC. Unless otherwise required by applicable securities laws, Nortel disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
(x) Nortel, the Nortel logo and the Globemark are trademarks of Nortel Networks.
www.nortel.com
Contact:
For further information: Ben Roome, +44-1628-433113,
benroome@nortel.com; Victoria Romero, +34-610-51-38-35,
victoria.romero@vodafone.com