New Era For GSM Begins With GSM 850 Launch By Cable & Wireless

Market Wire, 20050229

The launch announcement for the first GSM 850 network in the world by Cable & Wireless Panama with the support of its vendor partner Ericsson opens a new era in the global diffusion of the GSM wireless interface, in the view of 3G Americas, a wireless industry organization dedicated to supporting the GSM evolution to UMTS in the Americas. GSM continues as the fastest growing technology throughout Latin America, recording 59% year-over-year growth as of June 2002 and now the commercial deployment of GSM 850 will further stimulate regional growth. Forecasts indicate that GSM will become the leading technology in the Latin America region by 2007, followed by TDMA technology.

"GSM has now arrived in the most popular frequency band of 850 MHz for mobile services in the Americas," stated Dr. Richard Downes, Director of Latin America and the Caribbean for 3G Americas, "and with over 100 million TDMA subscribers in the Americas, this is excellent news for the market."

3G Americas applauds the first commercial announcement of GSM at the 850 MHz spectrum band. This announcement provides further evidence of the tremendous commitment of wireless carriers and manufacturers for making the 850 MHz spectrum band a core band for the GSM technology. Other TDMA operators in the region and industry analysts now have undeniable proof that terminals, infrastructure, engineering expertise, and applications are available for GSM 850, as previously reported by 3G Americas.

"The multiple GSM 850 terminals available today or soon to enter the market offer a broad variety of styles, applications and price points, incorporating the latest technical improvements," commented Chris Pearson, Executive Vice President of 3G Americas. Pearson added, "GSM 850 users in the Americas will benefit from the same high levels of service, global interoperability, and diverse applications available to the GSM community worldwide."

Additional operators planning to implement GSM 850 systems include Cingular Wireless, Dobson Wireless, and Telecom Italia for its TDMA properties in Brazil.

GSM is the world's leading wireless standard, with 550 networks in over 184 countries, representing over 750 million customers throughout the world today. GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) is the leading, next generation packet-based service for wireless data and is deployed in over 200 networks worldwide to date.

About 3G Americas: Unifying the Americas through Wireless Technology

3G Americas unites wireless operators and vendors in the Americas for the very first time to form a single voice representing GSM, TDMA, GPRS, EDGE, and UMTS technologies. Working with regulatory bodies, technical standards bodies, and other global organizations, 3G Americas uniquely focuses on the issues facing the Americas. The mission of 3G Americas is to promote, educate, and advocate for the success of GSM, TDMA, GPRS, EDGE, and UMTS, and their seamless evolution to future generations, thereby advancing the wireless industry in the Americas for the benefit of consumers. The organization fully supports the Third Generation technology migration strategy GSM/GPRS/EDGE and UMTS adopted by many operators in the Americas that will globally account for up to 85% of the world's next generation subscribers. 3G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue, WA with an office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Miami, FL. For more information, visit the website at www.3gamericas.org.

The founding members of 3G Americas include AT&T Wireless (USA), Cingular Wireless (USA), Ericsson, HP, Lucent Technologies, Motorola, Nokia, Nortel Networks, Openwave Systems, Rogers Wireless (Canada), Siemens, and Telecom Personal (Argentina).