Motorola wins second phase of GSM Association programme in developing countries

Nordic Business Report, Sept 27, 2005

NORDIC BUSINESS REPORT-27 September 2005-Motorola wins second phase of GSM Association programme in developing countries(C)1994-2005 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD http://www.m2.com

Norwegian telecomms operator Telenor ASA said on Tuesday (27 September) that the GSM Association (GSMA) had selected the US telecomms solutions provider Motorola to supply affordable and robust handsets for developing countries.

The mobile industry has driven the wholesale cost of mobile phones to below USD30 as part of the GSM Association programme to make mobile telephony affordable for people in developing countries.

This marks the second phase of the programme to "connect the unconnected" and GSMA expects to order six million of these low-cost handsets from Motorola.

"Motorola won thanks to a combination of a portfolio starting from sub-USD30, together with other key factors such as after-sales support, local service, brand presence and a choice of low-cost handset models including an exclusive product, the C113a, for this programme," said Rob Conway, CEO of the GSMA.

Motorola also won phase one of the programme with its family of handsets based on the C11X platform, Telenor said.

The GSMA programme is supported by some of the leading operators in emerging markets: AIS, Bharti, BPL, Globe Telecom, Hutchison Essar, IDEA Cellular, MTN Group, Orascom Telecom, Telenor and Vodacom.

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