MobiFon and Mobil Rom promise the 2 1/2 generation

Romanians will shift to the 2 1/2 mobile telephony generation, that is GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) mobile telephony, starting with the second half of the year, as mobile telephony operators Mobil Rom and MobiFon have pledged.

The two most important mobile telephony operators in Romania at CERF 2001 announced their intention to launch GPRS services on the market by the end of this year.

“GPRS offer will be available as of the second half this year. Subsequently, Mobil Rom will launch 3G services if there is demand on the market. At the same time, I feel that introducing UMTS and broadband data transmissions will be a difficult thing to do, as incomes in Romania are still very low, which could negatively impact on the demand,” Yves Gauthier, commercial manger with Mobil Rom, said during the event. Gauthier also outlined the company’s plans to purchase an UMTS licence as soon as the Government decided to auction them off.

MobiFon in its turn is planning to launch 2 1/2 G mobile telephony services. “We will introduce the first GPRS service for a trial period this summer. The commercial launch will take place at a later time and will depend on how the technology performs and on the clients’ requirements,” said Alexandru Hurdubaie, Data Department manager within MobiFon.

The third mobile telephony generation will follow the same pattern as the GPRS services, Ted Lattimore, MobiFon Chief Operating Officer, cared to mention. “We will surely want to buy an UMTS licence, but there’s no market for such services at the moment.

At present, the task for creating such a market falls mainly upon the Romanian Government, which is to decide upon the number of 3G licences it will put out, the manner of granting those licences and possibly their price,” Lattimore added.

If the Government decides to charge too high a price for the rights to operate in the 3G, the costs of telephony companies will implicitly be higher, which will eventually show in the prices of services. Lattimore also estimated MobiFon might start providing 3G services by 2004-2005.