Vodafone tests new mobile

April 17, 2001
Web posted at: 0831 GMT

LONDON (CNN) -- The world's largest mobile phone operator Vodafone said on Tuesday it successfully tried out high-speed mobile voice telephony in Britain.

Vodafone said it conducted live voice calls from a prototype handset in the Thames Valley, outside London, on its so-called third-generation (3G) network.

The 3G technology, designed to be fast enough to handle streaming audio and video for mobile phones, is seen as the future focus of earnings growth for mobile companies.

The huge costs of putting the services together, however, has alarmed investors and governments. Investors are also concerned about the time span for rolling out commercial networks.

Some of Europe's biggest telecom companies, including Vodafone (VOD), British Telecom (BT-A),  Deutsche Telecom (FDTE) and France Telecom (PFTE) spent a total of about 140 billion ($126 billion) in the past year buying 3G licences in Europe.

Vodafone said on Tuesday it expected commercial 3G services will be launched in the second half of 2002, with its services covering 80 percent of the UK population by 2007.

"The announcement of the first 3G voice call marks yet another significant milestone in the development of our multimedia services and forms part of our rollout plans for 3G mobile," Vodafone's UK chief operating officer Gavin Darby said in a statement.

Vodafone launched a network two weeks ago to provide customers with faster data transfer on mobiles, and the voice trial is another step towards full 3G services.

Vodafone's statement failed to bolster its shares, however, amid a general sell-off on Tuesday of tech and telecom shares across Europe. The mobile operator's stock fell as much as 6.8 percent in London to 201.25 pence.

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