Ericsson provides WAP solutions to China
Ericsson provides WAP solutions to China Ericsson has become the first WAP supplier to China Telecom and the largest WAP supplier to China Unicom, with more than half the WAP market in China. Ericsson delivered its WAP gateway and WAP solutions to enable China's telecom service providers to launch their WAP services to the country's mobile subscribers on May 17, World Telecommunications Day. "This is again a testimony of Ericsson's leadership in mobile Internet and demonstrates the confidence that the Chinese telecom operators place in Ericsson in the new telecom world," said Mr. Zhang Xingsheng, Executive Vice President of Ericsson (China) Company Ltd. China Telecom, the largest telecom operator in China, signed its first WAP solution agreement with Ericsson. China Telecom has now nearly 118 million wireline subscribers. The number of the Chinese mobile users is expected to reach 70 million at the end of this year. China Telecom is shifting its focus to mobile services, Internet service and content providers. The launch of WAP services will encourage a large number of the Chinese mobile subscribers to surf on the Internet, send/retrieve emails and enjoy other WAP services. According to the contracts with China Unicom, Ericsson will supply infrastructure, equipment, software, services and applications to China Unicom's WAP networks in nine cities in six provinces. The cities are Wuxi, Jinan, Qingdao, Wuhan, Xiamen, Fuzhou, Dalian, Shenyang and Tianjin. Tianjin was the first city to launch China Unicom's WAP services, on May 16. "China Unicom chose Ericsson because the company is one of the market leaders in mobile infrastructure and WAP application tools. Ericsson has a strong local presence in China and is able to give fast delivery," commented Mr. Liu Yunjie, Chief Engineer of China Unicom. "China Unicom is looking forward to offering mobile Internet to its subscribers, who will enjoy the power of mobility with this added mobile Internet access capability. Ericsson is the leader in mobile Internet and is leading the development of Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). WAP is the catalyst and the first step towards the mobile Internet. WAP services are not only making information from the current Internet available from mobile terminals, but also create a whole new set of services that will be available anywhere, anytime. With WAP technology, services such as banking, shopping, ticketing and entertainment will soon be available whenever and wherever the user wants them. No other manufacturer has announced such a broad range of WAP system solutions, services and devices as Ericsson. Ericsson has to date launched two WAP products, the MC 218 and the R320, and will soon launch their first smartphone, the R380 with PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) functions, as well as the WAP phone, A2618. To date, Ericsson has installed more than 90 WAP systems in the world and the first commercial WAP system in Asia. Ericsson is the leading communications supplier, combining innovation in mobility and Internet in creating the new era of mobile Internet. Ericsson provides total solutions covering everything from systems and applications to mobile phones and other communications tools. With more than 100,000 employees in 140 countries, Ericsson simplifies communications for customers all over the world. Read more at: http://www.ericsson.com/pressroom FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT: James Borup, Ericsson Corporate Communications Phone: +46 70 590 9261; E-mail: james.borup@lme.ericsson.se Zhang Xingsheng, Executive Vice President, National Network Operators, Ericsson (China) Company Ltd. Phone: +86 10 6561 9988 Björn Zethraeus, General Manager, Mobile Application Platforms Ericsson (China) Company Ltd. Phone: +86 10 6561 55 66; E-mail: bjorn.zethraeus@etc.ericsson.se Tu Min, Deputy Corporate Communications Manager Ericsson (China) Company Ltd. Phone: +86 10 6561 5566; E-mail: min.tu@etc.ericsson.se About Ericsson China Ericsson China has nearly 4,000 employees, 23 offices across the country and ten joint ventures that provide a full range of communications solutions and services. Ericsson and WAP Ericsson - a founder of WAP - is a main driver of the WAP technology. The company offers end-to-end WAP solutions, including turnkey systems, gateways, portals, consultants, applications, developer's kit and mobile devices. No other manufacturer has announced such a broad range of WAP system solutions, services and devices as Ericsson. Already in June 1999, Ericsson delivered the world's first end-to-end WAP 1.1 system - the first true WAP standard. Since then, Ericsson has already delivered more than 90 WAP 1.1 compliant systems to cdmaOne, GSM and TDMA network operators worldwide. Ericsson also scored another industry-first when it showed the first two WAP infrastructure products in October 1998, please see: http://www.ericsson.com/pressroom/Archive/1998Q4/19981007-0012.html About WAP Wireless Applications Protocol (WAP) is the main worldwide industry standard for providing Internet communications and advanced services on mobile phones, pagers, Personal Digital Assistants and other wireless devices. WAP is compatible with all mobile standards, including cdmaOne, GSM, PDC and TDMA, as well as GPRS and 3G systems. Ericsson, together with Nokia and Motorola, has introduced an initiative to simplify recognition of mobile Internet applications. The Mobile Media Mode (WWW:MMM) will enable users, content providers and operators to recognize services, Internet sites and devices such as smart phones, which provide access to these services. More information about WAP is available at http://www.wapforum.org ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/06/07/20000607BIT00030/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/06/07/20000607BIT00030/bit0002.pdf