Advertisment

AT&T to launch 3G service next week

author-image
CIOL Bureau
Updated On
New Update

CHICAGO: AT&T Wireless Services Inc., the third-largest U.S. mobile operator, said it was on track to launch a high-speed Internet service for mobile phones this year, and sources close to the matter said the roll-out would begin in four markets early next week.



AT&T Wireless will launch its third-generation or "3G" mobile phone service capable of transmitting e-mail, pictures, and video at high speed in four cities -- San Francisco, Seattle, Phoenix and Detroit, said sources.



The company will offer the data service at a fixed all-you-can-use rate of about $25 a month to consumers and $80 a month to corporate customers, one of the sources said.



"We're on track to deliver the 3G services before the end of the year," AT&T Wireless spokesman Ritch Blasi said, but he declined to address the specific timing.



Cingular Wireless plans to buy AT&T Wireless for $41 billion and the deal, which it expects to close in October, will make it the biggest U.S. mobile operator. Cingular hopes to begin upgrading their combined network for high-speed services in 2005.



AT&T Wireless's upgrade in four markets will satisfy an agreement with Japan's NTT DoCoMo, which has a stake of about 16 percent in AT&T Wireless.



The high-speed service will also pit Redmond, Washington-based AT&T Wireless against the biggest U.S. mobile provider Verizon Wireless. which already sells fast data services in two U.S. markets.



AT&T Wireless will initially offer two phone models by Nokia and Motorola Inc., as well as a data card, said sources.



Motorola spokeswoman Monica Rohleder said she does not know the details of the roll-out, but that Motorola will supply the A845 cell phone, which includes an mp3 player, an integrated digital camera and a large color screen, for the 3G network. Nokia officials declined to comment.



"They'd be the fastest phones on the block in the U.S. but its only four markets," said Guzman & Co. analyst Patrick Comack who noted that Verizon should have a lot more high-speed coverage than AT&T Wireless by the end of the year.



Verizon Wireless sells high-speed services for laptop computers in two markets. It plans to expand its high-speed service to a third of its network by the end of this year and across the entire country by the end of next year.



It plans to sell fast data phones by the end of the year.



Mobile providers around the world have already spent billions improving their networks to deliver the Internet to mobile phones at speeds similar to cable modems and DSL. Phone companies are making a high-stakes bet that the growing data business will offset the flagging traditional voice business.



While analysts estimate that only about 7 percent of people now use their phones to surf the Web, some believe the first companies to offer higher speeds will benefit at the expense of rivals.



AT&T Wireless has said that its W-CDMA tests show that the technology can support Internet data at speeds of about 200,000 bits per second to 300,000 bits per second.



That is about twice to almost three times as fast as AT&T Wireless' fastest speeds today and about four times as fast as dial-up links most people get at home today using phone lines.



Verizon Wireless says that its EV-DO network is as fast as 300,000 bits per second to 500,000 bits per second.



(Additional reporting by Sinead Carew)

tech-news