Europe : When NetCom, wholly owned subsidiary of TeliaSonera, tomorrow launches its UMTS network (3G) in Norway, customers will be able to use PC laptops to read mail and surf the Internet - at any time and anywhere.

Barbara Thoralfsson, President TeliaSonera Norway quoted below.

Netcom's mobile broadband is being offered at a fixed price per month, with no restrictions to use. At the same time, NetCom is implementing considerable reductions to its standard data prices.

Netcom's first 3G service is mobile broadband. The company is launching NetCom Connect, which is a smartcard for PC laptops that provides Internet access at broadband speed. The download rate can be perceived as five to six times faster than ISDN or 10 times faster than today's mobile rate.

"With a cost for unlimited use of NOK 399 per month (NOK 499, including VAT), this is a positive alternative for our customers, who send e-mail or surf the Internet, whether they are on the move, at their summer cottage or at home," says Barbara Thoralfsson, President of NetCom.

According to figures from Statistics Norway, there are currently more than 500,000 Norwegians who only use ISDN when surfing the Internet or sending e-mail. In addition, there are about 600,000 persons with modem Internet access. Many of these do not have access to fixed-line broadband. This makes Netcom's offering an excellent and simple alternative.

Most comprehensive in Norway
More than 240 towns and urban areas will receive UMTS coverage when the network opens. This means that about 3.5 million Norwegians will have access to UMTS. This is the most extensive 3G network in Norway.

In addition, NetCom is making extensive progress in building out EDGE, a technology that will provide a data-transfer rate that is two to three times faster compared with ISDN.

These build-outs will mean that 4.3 million Norwegians, or 95 per cent of the population, will have access to mobile broadband during 2006.
"Technology is highly complicated for most people and uninteresting for many. We want to have simple and efficient services that generate added value and are competitive in terms of price. This is what people want," says Thoralfsson.
The UMTS network will be opened for mobile phones on June 1, 2005.