Telefonica Moviles Espana, one of the largest mobile operators in Europe, has agreed to implement the Nokia General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) core solution into their commercial mobile network.The agreement means Nokia will be one of the the main suppliers for Telefonica's GPRS core network. Nokia's standards compliant GPRS system will enable operators to be the first to launch fully commercial GPRS services as existing second Generation networks evolve to 3rd Generation.
Following launch of the service expected towards the end of this year, more than 12 million Telefonica subscribers in Spain will benefit from the introduction of new commercial GPRS applications. GPRS also offers the advantage of enjoying the possibility of continuous connectivity to the Internet, the corporate Intranet or a WAP portal, for fast access to new content-rich services such as Internet surfing and e-mail.
Telefonica and Nokia have been working together for the supply of network equipment since 1996. Last year, Nokia delivered a GPRS core network for trials conducted by Telefonica.
Nokia has delivered the industry's strongest and most efficient core GPRS system and provided Connecting@care support services to Telefonica. In addition, Nokia will provide System Integration expertise to integrate the GPRS core network into the existing service delivery and billing environment.
Nokia is at the forefront of development and implementation of GPRS infrastructure. Since August 1999, Nokia has delivered and implemented nearly 50 GPRS core networks to leading operators in Europe, USA, Asia and China, and now has the largest installed base of any supplier. All of Nokia's GPRS system deliveries support non-proprietary interfaces to the customer care and billing systems, and can cope with multivendor environments and roaming between various operator networks.
Telefonica Moviles Espana (www.tsm.es) with more than 12 million subscribers, is Spain's leading mobile phone operator and the fifth largest in Europe. During the last year the company has been investing heavily in research in mobile internet and the development of mobile data. Telefonica Moviles has also created a Technology and Development Centre for the integration of mobile and internet technologies which will develop new services with the aim of turning mobile phones into personal communicators.
Nokia is paving the way to the mobile information society with its innovative products and solutions. Nokia is the leading mobile phone supplier and a leading supplier of mobile, broadband and IP networks, related services as well as multimedia terminals. In 1999, net sales totaled EUR 19.8 billion (USD 19.9 billion). Headquartered in Finland, Nokia is listed on the New York (NOK), Helsinki, Stockholm, London, Frankfurt and Paris stock exchanges and employs more than 60 000 people.