JAKARTA, Indonesia—Less than two months since the rollout of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) services last November, Optus made Australia’s first live third-generation (3G) call, the carrier said.
Keir Preedy, Optus’ acting managing director mobile, said: “While Australians probably won’t experience 3G services until mid-2003, we are laying the foundations for the future today.”
He added Nokia provides Optus’ 3G infrastructure, including network equipment, handsets and applications. The 3G development is a part of the deal with Nokia that includes spending US$900 million on existing infrastructure during the next seven years.
This level of expenditure, excluding the fee for its 3G license that cost US$122 million, in data services is related to Optus’ prediction that 50 percent of its revenue will come from data services by 2010.
“Our approach to mobile data is to provide consumers with whatever access technology best suits their needs, comfort level and budget from SMS (short message service) to GPRS and later 3G,” Preedy said.
Optus has 3.9 million customers, representing 33.4-percent market share, and stands behind Telstra with more than 5.2 million customers.
