By Justin Madubuko, 1 August 2001 11:30
NEWS Orange UK has signed an E800m (£491m) contract with Nokia for the supply of 3G UMTS and GSM network expansion, and 3G infrastructure. The agreement is an extension of the companies' long-term alliance in GSM networks and reiterates their commitment to 3G networks, announced in April. Initial delivery of Nokia's 3G trial equipment for Orange UK and the Orange group has been completed and will be followed out by network rollout, the company said in a statement. Didier Lebrat, group technical director at Orange, said in a statement that the experimental and test networks under this contract will serve all group affiliates. In addition, Nokia will also provide telecom-related services, including project management, installation, technical support, commissioning and training support for both 3G networks and GSM. The GSM network expansion is claimed will improve data speeds, capacity and coverage of the existing GSM network. The expansion agreement extends Nokia's supply of Orange UK's network until December 2003. An Orange spokeswoman said network rollout will be available over the next few years. "A wider range of 3G services will be available in 2003 as handsets become more widely available. Predominance of terminals in 2005."
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