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WirelessDevNet.com Press Release
Another Success in Asia: Siemens to Supply EDGE Technology to India’s Bharti
India’s largest GSM mobile operator Bharti Tele-Ventures has commissioned Siemens to equip the company’s network with EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) technology. This will allow Bharti to offer EDGE services to its customers in Kolkata. This is already Siemens’ third EDGE order in Asia and the twelfth worldwide.
During the first phase of the project, the mobile communication group at Siemens (Siemens mobile) will deliver and install by September of this year all the components required to commercially deploy EDGE in the network of Bharti’s subsidiary Airtel in Kolkata. EDGE permits data rates of up to 400 kilobit per second and, after GPRS, represents another "stepping stone" from GSM technology to UMTS.
"This order is another significant success in the particularly important Indian mobile communications market. We are pleased to be able to demonstrate the capability of our EDGE technology to our longstanding partner Bharti," said Christoph Caselitz, President of Networks at Siemens mobile.
"EDGE is the new mantra in the global Internet connectivity scene and will allow us to offer high speed data services which are approximately three times those of GPRS. We have already launched our EDGE networks in India starting with Punjab and will subsequently be rolling out in 13 other cities in a phased manner. Siemens expertise and global know-how will therefore be a great asset for us" according to Mr. Manoj Kohli, President Mobility, Bharti Tele-Ventures.
With 7,67 million mobile customers (end of June 2004) , Bharti is India’s largest GSM mobile service provider. Siemens and Bharti have shared a close association starting with their partnership in fixed network business in 1998.
India is one of the world’s fastest growing mobile markets. To date, only four percent of India’s one billion inhabitants use mobile telephony. India is developing into the second most important market for Siemens mobile in Asia after China.
Background information on EDGE
EDGE stands for "Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution" and is a development of the 2G standard GSM/GPRS. It provides a jump in performance with respect to data throughput rates using a new and more advanced modulation process. Combined with new coding processes (as with GPRS), this enables data rates of up to 400 kilobits per second. GSM operators can upgrade their existing GSM networks to EDGE and thereby offer multimedia data services at high speed. EDGE is an attractive proposition for operators having a UMTS license in Asia as well as Europe, as it provides them with a quick way to offer initial high-performance data services and thereby build acceptance for the subsequent introduction of other broadband services.
The Siemens Information and Communication Mobile Group (Siemens mobile) is one of the world’s leading full-line suppliers in the field of mobile communication, offering mobile phones, cordless phones, wireless modules and mobile infrastructure technology including radio and switching components, enabling services and applications, consulting services and systems integration. The mobile communication arm of Siemens AG markets products and services in more than 120 countries, generating sales of € 10 billion with a workforce of some 26,900 people in fiscal 2003 (September 30). Siemens mobile is the world market leader in prepaid solutions and digital cordless phones.
More: www.siemens-mobile.com/press
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