T-Mobile USA CEO Robert Dotson will announce T-Mobile's move into 3G service at a press conference in New York on Oct. 6.
Dotson will report on the results of the company's recent spectrum auction win, including substantial space on the 1.7 and 2.1 GHz bands, and the expansion of available spectrum in the company's 1.9GHz voice bands. Dotson will also announce the start of equipment deployment for UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) data access.
In a copy of Dotson's remarks provided to eWEEK, Dotson said that T-Mobile has already started deploying equipment for its 3G service in some areas. New York City, for example, already has about half of its UMTS equipment in place. T-Mobile's commercial UMTS service is expected to begin in mid-2007, according to Dotson.
"We acquired enough spectrum in the 1.7/2.1 MHz bands to enable us to remain within two operating bands of spectrum—while our competitors must contend with three or more," Dotson said in his prepared remarks. This means that T-Mobile can deploy 3G services more easily and less expensively. Because 3G handsets will need fewer frequencies available, they can cost less. Dotson predicts that T-Mobile's 3G products will be about 30 percent less expensive than those of its competitors.
"Planning and execution started in 2004—one example would be Alcatel and its converged switching platform," Dotson said. He said there are many examples in which T-Mobile had begun readying the company's network for the new spectrum. "Finally, given this advanced planning, we have already completed 50 percent of the UMTS equipment rollout in New York," Dotson said. "In addition, we have been working with our major handset providers over the past 12 months to prepare products for deployment in the new spectrum band," he added.
Click here to read a review of T-Mobile's GPRS network.
Dotson said that T-Mobile USA would build on the "Walk-N-Talk" experience implemented by T-Mobile International in Europe. "It allows us to continue leveraging T-Mobile's European experience and economic scale," Dotson said.
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