German telephone operator MobilCom says it expects to delay the introduction of next-generation mobile phone services scheduled for this year.
But the company will still stick to the conditions of its Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) licence, which requires the provision of UMTS services to 25 per cent of the population by the end of next year.
UMTS allows broadband, high-speed access to the Internet from mobile phones. Today’s news is a further sign of the depressed nature of the telecoms market and European telcos’ wariness over the cost benefits of rolling out new-technology mobile phone services.
MobilCom says it has rented about 3,600 sites for base stations "of which 1,800 already have the necessary buildings and electrical installations and roughly 900 are equipped with UMTS transmission facilities".
AFP