NORWAY
Alcatel Corp. signed an agreement with NextGenTel, a service provider in Norway, to conduct its first field trial of pre-WiMAX equipment in Oslo and Bergen, Norway. Under the terms of the agreement, Alcatel will supply, install and support NexGenTel with its pre-WiMAX end-to-end solution. Selected customers can access wireless broadband Internet services with a throughput of several megabits per second per user within a distance of up to 20 kilometers from a pre-WiMAX base station.
UNITED KINGDOM
Vodafone Group plc will offer mobile games from Electronic Arts Inc. through its carriers in Europe, Egypt, South America, Australia and New Zealand. The wireless operator said it will make the soccer game FIFA 06 Mobile available to its Vodafone live! subscribers this fall, and plans to offer as many as 20 EA titles by the end of 2006. Vodafone will follow the FIFA launch with mobile versions of two other popular EA franchises, The Sims 2 and Need for Speed Most Wanted. The companies jointly will promote the downloadable titles, which will be available through Vodafone carriers in 25 countries. EA has released 10 wireless games in the United States, including several offerings from Pogo.com, its online casual gaming community.
POLAND
L.M. Ericsson and Siemens AG have been granted third-generation network contracts from Polish-operator Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa. The value of the contracts was not disclosed. Ericsson will deliver 3G radio network infrastructure, upgrading PTC’s existing GSM network to W-CDMA and provide network and technology consulting, such as planning, tuning and optimization, as well as turnkey deployment, multi-vendor integration, support and training. The network will cover the cities of Krakow, Katowice, Lodz, Gdansk, Torun, Bydgoszcz and Szczecin. In addition, Siemens was selected to extend the Polish carrier’s W-CDMA network to other Polish cities. Siemens already built the radio access and core networks for the Warsaw region.
