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| From
left: Shoji Takahashi, Director - SLT & Mobitel; Wijesiri
Ambawatta, Director – Mobitel; S.N. Kumar, Director - SLT
& Mobitel; Asoka Weerasinghe de Silva, Chairman - Sri Lanka
Telecom & Mobitel; B. L. N. Chandrasena, Directress - SLT
& Mobitel; Suren J Amarasekera, CEO – Mobitel; Victor
Wang, President - Huawei Technologies Asia Pacific |
Mobitel
means business, gets ready to ring more in 2008
Launches
3G with South Asia’s first HSPA network; Targets 2 million
customers by April 2008
By
Darshana Abayasingha
Mobitel hopes to push its subscriber base close to two million by
April next year, with the launch of its 3G network rollout last
week. The company has invested US$ 200 million in launching ‘M3’,
which Mobitel claims offers the fastest mobile internet-access in
the country. This is also the first and only 3G High Speed Packet
Access (HSPA) network in South Asia, Mobitel said.
“We believe that unlike other nomadic broadband offerings using
alternate technologies such as WiMAX, Mobitel’s M3 the ‘super-3.5G’
service offers the only ‘truly mobile ICT’ available in
the country,” said Mobitel CEO, Surein Ameresekere.
HSPA is a collection of mobile telephony protocols that extend and
improve the performance of existing Universal Mobile Telecommunications
Systems protocols. M3 allows larger file downloads and uploads faster
than 2.5 G or conventional 3G platforms. It affords uplink speeds
up to 5.76 Mbits per second. M3 also offers video calling and conferencing,
entertainment and ‘Push Mail’ – all enhancing connectivity
and communication possibilities. Mobitel is also coming out with
a unique tariff scheme for its new services, with voice and video
calls being offered at the same rate.
Ameresekere said Mobitel would roll out a series of low-priced connection
schemes, as the company saw it fit to aggressively promote “this
all-important economic-enabler” and improve connectivity. Thus,
2008 could be a revolutionary year for mobile telephony in Sri Lanka,
he intimated.
China’s Huawei Technologies partnered Mobitel in its 3G roll
out, with funding from a Sri Lanka Telecom bond issue, self-investments
and two loans.
Meanwhile, Mobitel reopened its flagship centre at its head office
after an extensive facelift that offers an entirely new look and
feel of products and take them to a realm of truly 3rd generation
mobile experience. This follows the launch of M3, their super-3.5G
services. With this initiative, Mobitel claims yet another first,
by establishing an environment to showcase HSPA technology for the
first time in South Asia.
Mobitel would display its new products and services such as push
mail, MobileTV, video call and all other ‘super-3.5G’
M3 services on request.
Catchy
high quality video clips of latest mobile products and services
will also be shown on large displays at Experience Centres. The
specially designed lounge area would be dedicated for Mobitel’s
most loyal customers. Corporate customers would be served in this
business class enclosure where they would be served by competent
customer service consultants who will design customised solutions
for corporate specific needs, the company says.
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