SINGAPORE-Singapore network operators will not make General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) widely available to consumers here before the end of this year, executives from operators and handset manufacturers said at the CommunicAsia exhibition recently. Handset manufacturers also admitted the shortage of devices is delaying the rollout of GPRS in Hong Kong and Malaysia.
Most manufacturers cited technical delays, and some said they were waiting for operators to offer more services. Most said they will begin launching handsets in the third or fourth quarter of this year and will ramp up volume shipments based on demand.
The delay means that SingTel will have had its GPRS network ready for more than a year before being in a position to go out and market the service, according to SingTel spokesman Chia Boon Chong.
“Our network was ready last November, and we have a commercial service with pricing plans,” he said. “But we have not gone out and actively marketed the service. We expect to do that around the end of the year.”
SingTel has used the limited volumes of Motorola’s Timeport P7389i phone to offer its GPRS service. It has now been more than 18 months since SingTel and Motorola demonstrated the first GPRS call in Singapore.
Singapore’s two other operators, StarHub and MobileOne (M1), have trial GPRS services running at the moment. StarHub expects to launch a commercial service at the end of the year, company officials said.
GPRS is facing a vicious cycle, whereby operators will not promote the service until a sufficient variety of handsets are available, and handset manufacturers are waiting for the market to show some potential.
“The time of launch of GPRS is not the same as the time of market acceptance,” said an official at Panasonic Singapore. “Where are the applications to propel this forward?”
GPRS phones from Panasonic, a brand name used by Japan’s Matsushita, may be available here by September, with the volume of shipments depending on market take-up, the official said.
Officials at both Philips and Samsung said that they are still tweaking the technology inside their handsets but expected year-end launches. Nokia also predicted a year-end launch of GPRS handsets here.
Ericsson may be one of the first into the Singapore market in volume with its R520. The R520 was launched at the CommunicAsia show and will be tested by operators and service providers during the rest of the year. It will be available in limited volumes during the fourth quarter and in commercial volumes during the first quarter of 2002, Ericsson said.
Ericsson originally launched the R520 in April, but recalled the model due to a battery management problem.
The R520 is triple-band (GSM 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz) and also supports High Speed Circuit Switched Data (HSCSD), which improves data transmission speeds from the standard GSM 9.6 kilobits per second (kbps) to around 40 kbps.
SingTel already offers HSCSD, which runs twice as fast as its current GPRS network’s 20 kbps, but as a circuit-switched technology, HSCSD does not have the always-on, packet-switched benefits of GPRS. Later, GPRS is expected to be able to deliver up to 115 kbps.
