Nokia has recently concluded commercial deals with three major mobile operators in Asia-Pacific to supply its Push to Talk over Cellular (PoC) solution, highlighting the momentum that this form of instant communications is gaining.
"Nokia is happy to continue its close cooperation with these important operators in making this new way of communications available to the Asian-Pacific market. The interest shown by operators in Asia-Pacific reinforces the strong drive to bring the most advanced and appealing services to this forward-looking region," said Simon Beresford-Wylie, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific, Networks, Nokia.
Nokia's carrier grade push to talk solution provides competitive performance, a full feature set, and a smooth migration path to the upcoming Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) standard. Nokia is trialing its solution with more than 30 operators around the world.
The deal with AIS, Thailand's leading mobile operator, calls for Nokia to supply an end-to-end PoC solution that includes equipment, software and solution integration services. Deliveries will begin immediately, with commercial launch targeted for second quarter 2004.
"Push to talk will be one of several new mobile services to be jointly launched by AIS and Nokia in 2004. We believe that push to talk will greatly appeal to both our business and residential customers. Other new mobile multimedia services, for example combining voice and video, are in the pipeline," said Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra, AIS President.
"Nokia, our long-term vendor, has demonstrated their technology leadership and rollout capabilities. And their commitment to make the market for mobile multimedia services bodes well with AIS mobile service evolution strategy," added Ms. Shinawatra.
In Australia, Nokia is providing its PoC solution to Optus and Telstra.
Telstra Group Managing Director, Technology, Innovation and Products, Mr. Ted Pretty, said the company's commitment to Push to Talk demonstrates an innovative approach to meeting the evolving communication needs of wireless customers.
"Push to talk will address the needs of our business and consumer customers, to disseminate or communicate time critical information quickly and efficiently whilst taking advantage of Telstra's national mobile network, which offers reliability and extensive coverage," said Mr. Pretty.
Director of Mobile Marketing, Optus, Mr. Stuart Tucker, said push to talk will challenge the way in which people think about using their mobile phone by enabling customers to move from 'one to one' conversations to instantaneous 'one to many' conversations at the push of a button - no matter where they are on Optus' high performance national network.
"Optus' Push to Talk solution will further empower our business customers to communicate instantly with specific groups such as construction teams, field sales teams, couriers and service teams," Mr. Tucker said.
Nokia launched it carrier-grade push to talk network products in October 2003, and the world's first push to talk phone, the Nokia 5140, in November 2003. During 2004, Nokia will introduce a full range of push to talk capable GSM phones, including non-Symbian terminals and Symbian OS-based smartphones. From 2005 onwards, push to talk will become available for most Nokia GPRS/WCDMA phones.
About AIS
Advanced Info Service Plc. or AIS is the largest mobile phone operator in Thailand with approximately 13.3 million subscribers at the end of 2003. AIS strongly believe that wireless communications will bring changes to the way Thai people lead their lives, regardless of who they are and what they do. With the existence of endless communications possibilities, the quality of life is better.
About Optus
Optus is an Australian leader in integrated communications - serving more than six million customers each day. The company provides a broad range of communications services including mobile, national and long distance services, local telephony, international telephony, business network services, internet and satellite services and subscription television.
In 2001, SingTel became the parent company of Optus, paving the way for Optus to become a strong and strategic player within the Asia-Pacific region.
About Telstra
Telstra is Australia's leading telecommunications and information services company, with one of the best-known brands in the country. We offer a full range of services and compete in all telecommunications markets throughout Australia, providing more than 10.3 million Australian fixed line and more than 6.5 million mobile services.
About Nokia
A market leader in the cellular industry in Asia Pacific, Nokia provides innovative, industry leading and market-relevant technology and products to around 20 diverse markets in the region.
Nokia is the world leader in mobile communications, driving the growth and sustainability of the broader mobility industry. Nokia is dedicated to enhancing people's lives and productivity by providing easy-to-use and secure products like mobile phones, and solutions for imaging, games, media, mobile network operators and businesses. Nokia is a broadly held company with listings on five major exchanges.
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Note to editors
Push to Talk over Cellular (PoC) introduces a new, direct one-to-one and one-to-many voice communication service into GSM/GPRS networks.
With push to talk, mobile phone users can use their mobiles like walkie-talkies, communicating with a selected group or individual with the push of a single button. This simple, direct communication will serve the needs of both business and private users.
Push to talk is especially suited for cases where users need to communicate repeatedly but occasionally with the same group or to individuals.
Nokia's PoC solution offers a full feature set and smooth migration to the upcoming Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) standard and IP multimedia subsystem as standardized in 3GPP.