YOU can now see your partner, watch TV and video clips, and browse Internet pages through your mobile phone. On January 25, the mobile operator T-Mobile Slovensko launched its Universal Mobile Telephone Service (UMTS) network and services operation, sometimes referred to as third generation (3G) services.
At present it is only possible to use the technology in selected parts of Bratislava but the operator plans to widen the 3G-network to other localities by the end of this year, according to T-Mobile's Juraj Droba.
The new technology also enables quicker data transfer with speeds of up to 384 Kbps. The operator plans to provide access to other technologies, scheduled to speed up data transfer within 3G services even more. Clients interested in the services must own a mobile phone that supports UMTS. T-mobile currently offers two such phones - the Nokia N70 and the Sony Ericsson K608i.
Slovak Telecom, 51 percent of which belongs to German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom, is the 100-percent owner of T-Mobile Slovensko. At the end of last year, T-Mobile in Slovakia had more than two million clients.
Slovakia's second mobile operator, Orange Slovakia, has launched trials of a 3G network in the UMTS standard in September. The licence requires Orange Slovensko to start commercial operation of the network no later than the end of the first quarter of 2006.
Both operators should charge similar prices for video calls as they do for standard calls.
Source: SITA
