MELBOURNE, Australia—Optus is likely to delay the rollout of its $A900 million (US$478 million) third-generation (3G) mobile network beyond its proposed date of November 2002, according to Lee Hsien Yang, the head of Singapore Telecommunications, which owns Optus.
Lee, who recently visited Australia, said in particular there remain a number of problems with handsets, including battery life and cross-platform interoperability with the existing second-generation network. Optus signed a contract with Finnish manufacturer Nokia last year to provide 3G equipment.
Lee indicated the rollout would take place when 3G’s seamlessness is assured. The company also wants to avoid a repeat of past service failures, such as the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).
