ASIA
Philippines : After the first High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA)
call in a live WCDMA network in the country, Philippines' leading
wireless service provider Smart Communications Inc. (SMART) launched
their HSDPA network. The solution, provided by Nokia, allows Smart
to operate its network more cost-efficiently and offer its customers
data services at speeds of up to four times faster than current 3G
speeds.
"Our aim is to revolutionize mobile communications by enabling
our subscribers to access data-rich multimedia content and application
right through their handset," said Rolando Peña, Network
Services Division head at Smart Communications. "To accomplish
this, our engineers are working round-the-clock to establish the widest
3G network in the country in the shortest possible time."
To date, Smart has deployed more than 1,000 3G base station sites
across the country. This allows more subscribers to enjoy Smart 3G
services such as video calling, video streaming, high speed Internet
browsing and downloading of data-rich content like full music tracks
and video clips.
"Nokia is pleased to have met our rollout challenge with Smart.
Deploying HSDPA is just a simple software upgrade to the Nokia supplied
WCDMA network. It is for this reason why it was easy for us to make
the first HSDPA call in the country which was just a month after 3G
network was operational in February," says Markku Nieminen, Account
Director, Networks, Nokia.
In WCDMA 3G, Nokia has 59 customers to date. Nokia's high-performing
HSDPA is a simple software upgrade to Nokia WCDMA networks, thus enabling
cost-effective and fast rollout. Nokia is a leader in the HSDPA market,
with over 20 contracts globally. Many network operators have already
opened their HSDPA networks with the Nokia HSDPA.
Nokia is supplying the HSDPA solution to Smart as part of the WCDMA
3G network contract announced in January 2006. Nokia has been the
sole network supplier to Smart since 1998.
About Smart Communications Inc.
Smart Communications, Inc. is the Philippines' leading wireless services
provider with 20.4 million subscribers on its GSM network as of end-December
2005. Of the total subscriber base served, 15.4 million are under
the brands Smart Buddy, Smart Gold, addict mobile, addict mobile prepaid,
Smart Infinity, Smart Kid, Smart Kid Prepaid and Smart ACeS. The remaining
5 million are serviced through its subsidiary, Pilipino Telephone
Corp., under the GSM brand Talk 'N Text.
