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WirelessDevNet.com Press Release
EDGE 3G for United States
BELLEVUE, Wash. and RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Nov. 19 -- More than 215 million people in the United States now have the opportunity to experience EDGE 3G technology -- the fastest national mobile wireless data service in North America. With the nationwide launch of high-speed wireless data services by AT&T Wireless on November 18, 2003, the U.S. gains the EDGE with average data speeds between 100-130 Kbps -- nearly twice as fast as other national mobile wireless networks and up to three times faster than traditional wired dial-up services.
Chris Pearson, Executive Vice President of 3G Americas, stated, "3G Americas congratulates AT&T Wireless on the first nationwide EDGE rollout in the United States, including Bermuda and Puerto Rico. We also congratulate Canada's Rogers Wireless for its commercial EDGE launch in the Greater Vancouver area." He added, "Our organization has been proactive in explaining the benefits of the EDGE technology to operators, regulators and others over the past few years and now the rewards are being delivered -- customers throughout the U.S. and Canada will have the opportunity to utilize 3G services and applications based on EDGE to enhance their professional and personal lives."
The first market launch of EDGE occurred in Indianapolis by Cingular Wireless (June 2003), followed by additional launches throughout the world within Hong Kong, Thailand, Finland, Chile, and Canada. The first international roaming call was completed in October 2003 between AIS in Thailand and CSL in Hong Kong. Telefonica Movil of Chile became the first operator to launch EDGE services in Latin America that same month. In the U.S., GSM operators AT&T Wireless, Cingular Wireless and T-Mobile have all committed to the nationwide deployment of EDGE. In Mexico, market leader Telcel has also committed to deploying EDGE services.
"The economies of scale enjoyed by GSM technologies -- including EDGE -- make the business case for operators and the cost benefits for their customers outstanding. This brings forward the support from leading industry manufacturers," observed Vicki Livingston, Director of Marketing for 3G Americas. "To date, 60 operators worldwide have chosen EDGE technology -- some will deploy EDGE as a stand-alone 3G technology; others will deploy EDGE as a next generation step to UMTS; and for those operators with UMTS licenses, such as TIM Italy, both complementary technologies will be deployed in a single harmonized EDGE/UMTS network." 3G Americas expects the majority of GSM operators worldwide will deploy EDGE in one of these three scenarios.
GSM is the digital mobile technology used by nearly one billion customers worldwide. In the third quarter of 2003, 48 million customers worldwide equaling 80% of all new mobile subscribers chose GSM technology. In the Americas, GSM is growing at a higher rate than any other technology -- 89% for a one-year period ending September 2003. GSM is also the number one mobile technology choice of new customers in the Americas.
The recently published Wireless Trends in the Americas: The Proliferation of GSM 850 MHz and EDGE white paper by 3G Americas is available for free download in English, Spanish and Portuguese, from the website: www.3gamericas.org.
About 3G Americas: Unifying the Americas through Wireless Technology
The mission of 3G Americas is to promote and facilitate the seamless deployment of the GSM family of technologies throughout the Americas for the benefit of consumers. The organization fully supports the Third Generation (3G) technology migration strategy GSM/GPRS/EDGE and UMTS adopted by many operators in the Americas that is expected to globally account for up to 85% of the world's next-generation subscribers. 3G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue, WA. For more information, visit our website at www.3gamericas.org.
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