RadioMobil and its Partners Already Testing GPRS in Real Network

• As one of the first in the world, selected partners already have concrete experience of using GPRS services in the Paegas GSM network
• Companies selected for testing the GPRS system are developing their own user applications

RadioMobil, IBM, Logica, Tesla HloubÄ?tín, and consequently GiTy and Microsoft are one of the first in the world to test the progressive GPRS technology in a real GSM network. (The GPRS technology allows the user a permanent mobile on-line connection, and transmission of data files at even a greater speed than todayâ??s fixed lines. One does not pay for minutes â?ścalledâ?ť, but only for the amount of data really transmitted.)

â?śFunctionality testing has been going on for longer now in the Paegas network and many external companies participate. They try how will the new technology help them in common operation. At the same time they prepare their own applications and integration of GPRS in systems that they offer to their clients so that they are ready for commercial implementation of this service. We believe that by the end of this year the service will be sufficiently prepared to be offered to all customers,â?ť said the Marketing Director of RadioMobil Robert Chvátal.

Another partner of RadioMobil â?" the IBM company â?" puts billions of dollars into implementation of the technologies WAP, GPRS or Bluetooth. â?śA year ago we announced we were going to pursue intensively for the development of mobile technologies,â?ť said IBMâ??s e-business development manager Jan Kubálek. â?śToday I consider it a matter of course that GPRS will help every colleague of mine since our work requires constant travelling, the advantages of a fully mobile office. As an important hardware manufacturer we will implement the GPRS technology in our own devices, too,â?ť added Kubálek.

â?śIn a short time the voice will be just a supplement of data communication,â?ť says the telecommunications manager of Logica Pavel Reich. Approximately in 2004 data will form already 40 percent of the telecommunication traffic within GSM and their share will further increase rapidly. Logica registered the m-commerce trademark, which gives an indication of its activities as well as does the fact that it is one of the companies that are already testing GPRS in the Paegas network. â?śWe are testing GPRS internally because our office is all around the world â?" it is fully mobile â?" and it is fast data transmission without connection assembly what really makes our work easier.â?ť However, Logica is testing GPRS also because it develops its own services based on this technology. It is obvious even today that GPRS will be not only for business clientele, but practically for all. Pavel Reich comments: â?śIf WAP remained slightly aside of the interest of the widest public so far, GPRS will change this dramatically.â?ť

â?śWe are working on several applications that could barely work without GPRS,â?ť says Jaroslav Jansa, director of the GSM division of Tesla, which is very active in the telecommunications field. â?śThe GSM division was set up in January this year and is formed by a part of the I. C. E. team that developed SignBox for authorisation of digital photographs awarded in the EU-contest IST Prize 99. The device was developed in co-operation with the Czech branch of the Japanese firm Olympus. According to the Law on Electronic Signature, photographs from SignBox can be even used at a court, which was not possible before. And it is in co-operation with RadioMobil that the transmission system of these â?śguaranteed photographsâ?ť is ready for the GPRS network, where the transmission time amounts to a few seconds all over the CR.â?ť

The first data transmission using GPRS was carried out by the British Cellnet on 8^th April last year, a successful transmission in the Paegas GSM network followed only four days after that. Since then there were many such transmissions, which tested various services including WAP. At the end of November (23^rd to be exact) the Austrian Mobilkom tried out a data transmission within GPRS and on 14^th February the Hungarian Westel 900 announced a successful WAP standard information transmission through GPRS. All three operators mentioned have chosen Motorola as a supplier. â?śBefore we offer services to customers we have to be sure that the network is well prepared for their launch. We would not dare sell something that has not been tested according to our technicians, although another operator might not hesitate to do so,â?ť the Managing Director of RadioMobil Klaus Tebbe remarked when introducing the service at the ComNet trade fair in May.

First phones supporting the GPRS technology should appear on the market by the end of this year. RadioMobil wants to start offering customers services based on this technology at that time.

Brief time schedule of GPRS technology implementation in the Paegas network:
24th April 1999	RadioMobil chose a supplier - Motorola
5th May 1999	Contract on implementation of GPRS in the Paegas network signed
17th September 1999	The system installed, laboratory tests start
13th October 1999	The system is fully integrated, which allows a complete end-to-end GPRS connection through radio interface
12th November 1999	The first "commercial" data transmission in a "live" network (an e-mail from the HavlíÄŤkĹŻv Brod woods sent to the management of RadioMobil and Motorola by a Motorola worker (who is RadioMobils standard customer)
15th February 2000	A successful data transmission using GPRS within a WAP application
March 2000	An extended coverage test - several hundreds of BTS with GPRS were put into operation in Prague and surroundings
23rd - 25th May 2000	First public presentation of GPRS-based applications at the ComNet trade-fair
August 2000	Evaluation of experience of partners testing GPRS services of the Paegas network

Advantages of the General Packet Radio Service Technology (GPRS)

• Permanent on-line connection
• Every mobile phone gets its own IP address, and will be connected directly (on-line) to the Internet
• GPRS will make using Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)-based services easier and more efficient
• No time is taken for connection assembly since the handset is connected all the time (makes GPRS different from common data transmission as well as from HSCSD)
• Data transmission is several times faster, it should be equal to dial-up connection from a fixed line in the first stage, but the speed shall increase as the technology develops
• GPRS transmits data significantly more efficiently than any other means, which will also influence the final price
• The price for using GPRS-based services can be determined according to the volume of data actually transmitted (unlike common data connection, when you pay for time and it doesnt matter whether data was transmitted and at what speed)
• Practically all GSM phone manufacturers provide for the support of the GPRS technology (not other data transmission technologies), and so several GPRS supporting mobile phones of different brands should appear on the market during the course of next year
• The majority of GSM network operators provide for implementing GPRS at the end of this and during the course of next year, and it can therefore be expected that it will be possible to use GPRS when roaming in most countries.

 

The joint-stock company RadioMobil is the operator of the most dynamically growing GSM network in the Czech Republic. At the end of 1999, the Paegas brands share of the market amounted to 47%, and the share of its Paegas Twist pre-paid services even reached over 60%. During 1999 more than 500,000 new customers decided to use its services, which is the highest such figure in the history of mobile communications in the CR. The Paegas GSM network, which is operated by RadioMobil, is among the most technologically advanced in the world and has no rival on the Czech market for a whole range of services.

Only in the Paegas network can literally all customers, including owners of pre-paid Paegas Twist cards, make use of the most up-to-date services: completely cost-free data and fax transmissions, GSM banking, WAP-based services, Paegas Assistant and others. Currently, only RadioMobil offers the option of ordering services or monitoring billing over the Internet, thanks to the Paegas Info Profile service. And customers can always be sure that they have chosen the most effective operator on the Czech market.

RadioMobil can fully rely on its shareholders: ÄŚeské radiokomunikace - 51% (during 2001 its share will decrease to 39.2%, following exercise of an option by the CMobil consortium) and the CMobil consortium - 49% (beginning in 2001, 60.8%). The CMobil consortium is made up of the following: T-Mobil - a 100%-owned daughter company of Deutsche Telekom (85.55%), TIM - Telecom Italia Mobile (12%), as well as SKS - SpoĹ?itelní kapitálová spoleÄŤnost, a.s. and PVT, a.s.

Today the Paegas GSM network covers more than 99% of the Czech population and 99.8% of category 1 roadways. RadioMobil customers can use their mobile telephones in the networks of 188 operators in nearly 85 countries all over the world (114 different locations in all). During 1999 RadioMobil invested more than 5.5 billion Czech crowns into its network, and investment for the year 2000 is planned at over 10 billion. In June 2000 over 1 350 000 customers were using the Paegas services. Paegas registered about 500 000 new customers.

T-Mobile Czech Republic, a member of the international telecommunications group Deutsche Telekom, has almost 6.2 million customers, the number-one operator in the Czech market. T-Mobile is an integrated operator: in addition to telecommunications services, it offers comprehensive ICT solutions not only for companies, but also for other organizations and individuals. It provides outstanding services in the high-speed network, which was proved repeatedly by benchmark testing performed by umlaut (former P3) with Best-in-Test seal.

T-Mobile Czech Republic places emphasis on taking a responsible approach to the environment and society. It adheres to fair business practices, helps beneficial applications and services to see the light of day, supports non-profit organizations, small businesses and individuals, and lends a helping hand whenever crisis situations arise. The company’s employees serve as volunteers in many places across the entire Czech Republic.

More information about the company is available at www.t-mobile.cz, www.t-press.cz (the portal for journalists) and www.t-mobile.cz/pomahame (information on the company’s CSR activities).

Contact details of the press unit: press@t-press.cz.