The mobile telephones' market is growing by 58% each year, a rate that can be described as a telecommunications explosion. How can the Internet help develop mobile networks? To begin with, web pages can inform customers about new value-added services that are hard to sell or for which manuals are often ineffective. For this purpose, the Internet is perfect for customers, not only because it is available 24 hours a day as multimedia, cost-efficient information, but especially because it allows mobile phone users to discover the most advantageous ways of using their mobile phones.
Another way the Internet can support mobile communication development is with short message sending (SMS). Internet can help not only with the basic function of sending messages, but also by making information services, such as teletext and auto traffic reports, accessible. The Internet also helps develop mobile telecommunications with its "youth" image - the possibility of using SMS via the Internet is a particularly attractive form of communication for high school and university students, who are the mobile phone users of the future.
In terms of products, the models that will follow the revolutionary Nokia 9000 will provide data transmissions that will make surfing the Internet integral to data performance. Mobile phones will have larger display monitors or screens with touch control. Modems with data compression will influence transmission speed, and the direct connection of mobile networks with the Internet will enable faster hook-ups.
The general increase of interest in the Internet will help to break down the skepticism that surrounded the data transmission capabilities of mobile networks in the 1990's. This progress should become more visible in the coming years, increasing labor productivity by taking advantage of the information technology revolution.
EuroTel Bratislava offers its customers the opportunity to hook up to the Internet through their GSM phones as of August 1, 1997. The ability to access the Internet through a mobile phone allows a customer to send or receive electronic mail, carry out banking transactions, use select libraries or "attend" various computer conferences.
What will the customer gain by using the EuroTel Internet service? Firstly, he will save money on charges for entering Slovak Telecom's network because he will pay only for the EuroTel mobile connection. Further, he will get an e-mail address that he can adjust to inform him about incoming messages signalled through the telephone's SMS, and he will have the option of sending up to 30 short text messages daily directly from the web page www.eurotel.sk/sms to any mobile phone in the EuroTel GSM network. EuroTel was first to enter the market with this service.
What is needed to activate the Internet service? A customer must have an active data transmission service, must pay for Internet access to his Internet service provider, and he should know the entry point number. In order to offer its customers a complete solution, EuroTel is preparing exclusive Internet service, which should be available by the end of the year.
The final important point is that the price of the service is a one-time activation fee of 1,100 Sk plus a monthly fee of 300 Sk.
Author: Katarína Grosmannová
