Cegetel complete one of the world-first GPRS-calls with Nokia over a public network in Paris

Cegetel, one of the leading mobile operators in France has completed the first GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) call in France over its live SFR network in Paris. The data call was completed using Nokia supplied GPRS core and GSM base station technology.

The milestone is among the first GPRS-calls worldwide successfully completed with Nokia over a public network with commercial infrastructure products, compliant with the latest standards.

"We are pleased that in working together efficiently with Cegetel, we have achieved this important milestone in the development towards the 3rd Generation mobile systems and mobile multimedia services," said Peter Kühne, Area Vice-President Nokia Networks.

"Nokia is at the forefront of development and implementation of GPRS infrastructure for mobile operators. With this advancement Cegetel can create new services based on multimedia messaging, wireless Internet, and corporate Intranet access" said Paul-Henri Ferrand, Managing Director, Nokia France.

"Thanks to the opening of our first GPRS site, SFR confirms its leading position in the convergance of the Internet and telecommunications. The integration of GPRS in our SFR network is a first and necessary milestone towards the implementation of future 3G networks. With the GPRS infrastructure supplied by Nokia, in Paris, we will be able to offer to hundereds of SFR subscribers the posibility to test our Mobile Internet services in September," says Pierre Bardon, Managing Director, SFR.

Demand for new, innovative Internet related services is a growing trend that is driving mobile usage in networks today. GPRS will offer true global mass market wireless access to the Internet and other packet-based networks. As existing second Generation networks evolve to 3rd Generation, GPRS is the packet mobile core platform and radio access which enables the provision of mobile Internet and intranet.

With a turnover of EUR 4.078 billion in 1999 and 8000 employees in the whole of France, Cegetel is the second largest telecommunications operator in France and the first challenger operator. This position is a result of a global operator strategy covering all telecom activities. In mobile telephony, SFR has more than eight million subscribers and in fixed, their "7" service has 1.9 million subscriber lines registered. In the corporate telecommunications market, Cegetel offers its fixed telephony, mobility, Internet and data services to 25,000 corporate customers.

Nokia is paving the way to the mobile information society with its innovative products and solutions. Nokia is the leading mobile phone supplier and a leading supplier of mobile, broadband and IP networks, related services as well as multimedia terminals. In 1999, net sales totalled EUR 19.8 billion (USD 19.9 billion). Headquartered in Finland, Nokia is listed on the New York (NOK), Helsinki, Stockholm, London, Frankfurt and Paris stock exchanges and employs more than 56,000 people.

Further information:
Communications Department, Nokia Networks
Tel: +358 9 5113 8193, Fax: +358 9 5113 8199
E-mail: nokia.networks@nokia.com
www.nokia.com

Caroline Mir, SFR Cegetel
Tel: +33 1 71 07 63 63
E-mail: Caroline.mir@cegetel.fr
www.cegetel.fr