BPL Mobile Awards Motorola First GPRS Contract in India

Business Wire, August 29, 2000

Business Editors, Telecommunications Writers

MUMBAI, India--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 29, 2000

Motorola/Cisco Alliance enables high-speed mobile data solution

Mumbai's BPL Mobile has awarded Motorola Inc. (NYSE:MOT) a contract for the deployment of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) high speed mobile data on the BPL Mobile GSM network. BPL Mobile, along with Motorola, will bring the first GPRS service to India's growing wireless market.

The BPL Mobile commercial GPRS service is expected to be available in the near future, enabled by Motorola's Global Telecom Solutions Sector (GTSS) and strategic alliance partner Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO). The value of the contract was not disclosed.

The 'always on, always connected', high-speed mobile data service will deliver a wide range of Internet services to mobile devices, and opens up the mobile market to a wealth of data applications, including e-commerce, email, and data transfer. BPL Mobile will launch its GPRS service with Motorola's Timeport(TM) p7389i GPRS phones (a) - the world's first GPRS handsets.

"BPL Mobile wants to give its customers the latest in wireless technology. It knows what GPRS can do for its customers and that Motorola and Cisco can bring these new opportunities to them. We are pleased to continue our strong relationship with BPL Mobile as we forge ahead in the world of wireless," said Pramod Saxena, Executive Director & General Manager of Motorola India Ltd.

Girish Rangan, CEO, BPL Mobile Communications Ltd said: "Motorola's proven success in GSM and GPRS made it easy for BPL Mobile to choose who would help us lead the way to 3G in India. We believe that success in GPRS will bring future success in 3G. We are proud to build on the past five years together with Motorola and offer our subscribers the practical, state-of-the-art capabilities of GPRS."

Motorola, through its alliance with Cisco, is the only supplier worldwide with complete end-to-end GPRS network solutions in commercial service. Both BT Cellnet in the UK and T-Mobil in Germany launched their GPRS services in June, and Telsim in Turkey and China United Telecommunications Corporation (China Unicom) launched their GPRS services this month, enabled by the Motorola/Cisco GPRS solution and Motorola's GPRS handsets.

Motorola has supplied BPL Mobile GSM system solutions since 1995.

The Motorola/Cisco GPRS architecture can be implemented over an existing GSM network, giving operators investment protection over existing infrastructure. Motorola's GSM infrastructure systems are GPRS-ready, requiring only a software load and PCU addition, with no modifications to existing hardware. Offering controlled evolution to third generation mobile communications, the Motorola/Cisco GPRS data solution enables operators to take advantage of many new revenue opportunities. Cisco and Motorola are driving market growth and developing applications and value-added services to provide operators with innovative and competitive offerings for their subscriber base.

About the Motorola/Cisco Alliance

The Motorola and Cisco strategic alliance delivers end-to-end wireless solutions to operators worldwide through a powerful combination of Cisco Internet technologies and Motorola systems integration, radio frequency products and services. Over the past year, the alliance has introduced an open Internet-Protocol (IP) network architecture that integrates data, voice and video services for mobile networks, and provides users with a broad range of wireless Internet access solutions. The alliance also has secured a leadership position in the deployment of GPRS systems worldwide, and through these commercial launches is providing a critical path to third-generation mobile communications. Motorola and Cisco continue to work together on joint development of IP network architecture and products, the promotion of open standards, and the creation of joint ventures, such as the Invisix Centres of Excellence located in Tokyo, Japan; Swindon, UK; Fort Worth, Texas; and San Jose, California.

About Motorola

Motorola is a global leader in providing integrated communications solutions and embedded electronics solutions. Sales in 1999 were $33.1 billion.

For more information on Motorola's Aspira GPRS solution, please visit: http://motorola.com/aspira/gprs

For more information on Motorola, visit: www.motorola.com

About BPL

BPL Mobile is India's premier Mobile telephony network, currently operating in the circles of Mumbai, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Pondichery & Goa. It has revolutionised the mobile telephony industry in India, with its state-of-the-art technology including its unique Intelligent Network (IN) platform, with advanced Intelligence to support customization and multiple solutions and vast experience with the Telecom Sector.

About Cisco

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Cisco news and information are available at www.cisco.com

(a) Motorola Timeport p7389i GPRS phone

Motorola's Timeport p7389i GPRS phone helps allow easy access to the Internet (b) and corporate Intranets almost anywhere in the world. Users have mobile access to systems offering e-mails, train timetables, weather and traffic conditions, where roaming agreements are in place. The phone incorporates VibraCall(R) discreet alert and iTAP(TM) intelligent keypad entry software, which facilitates single-stroke text entry by predicting the word the user is trying to spell. It also offers speaker dependent voice activation, VoiceNote(TM) digital voice recorder and TrueSync(TM) multi-point synchronisation software. Users also have infrared (IrDA) wireless connection to a PC or PDA via a built-in modem, so they can access their ISP or corporate server to check email or surf the Web (b) on the move.