Under the one-year frame agreement, Ericsson will be the sole supplier of a WCDMA/HSPA radio network and a fully IP-based common core network, including Ericsson's Mobile Softswitch Solution. The deal also includes a range of professional services, such as network design, network deployment and systems integration, network review and knowledge transfer. Deployment has started.

Ericsson's HSPA solution will boost network capacity, allowing Personal to broaden its service offering and tap into new revenue streams. Subscribers will enjoy a richer communication experience through the introduction of next-generation mobile broadband services, including high-speed mobile internet access, mobile TV and video, and mobile-music related services.

Marcelo Prudencio, CEO of Personal Paraguay, says: "Personal is driving the growth of the telecom industry in Paraguay. Ericsson's state-of-the-art technology and experience will allow us to provide a premium, end-to-end customer experience. We are committed to offering a world-class 3G network throughout the country."

Fatima Raimondi, President of Ericsson South Latin America, says: "We are proud to build upon our long-term partnership with Personal and evolve their WCDMA/HSPA offering. Ericsson's advanced technology helps operators significantly increase network capacity and will allow them to offer their customers a real mobile broadband experience and innovative commercial 3G services."

Ericsson is currently powering 86 of the 174 commercial HSPA networks launched worldwide, with many additional ongoing deployments.

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Established in June of 1998, and operated by Nu'cleo S.A, Personal offers mobile telephony services throughout Paraguay. Nu'cleo S.A. is made up of ABC Communications (Paraguayan group) (32.5 percent) with the remaining 67.5 percent owned by Personal Telecom, Telecom group (W of Argentina - Investments), and TIM (Telecom Italy Mobile) of Telecom Italy.

HSPA stands for High-Speed Packet Access. An inherent advantage of HSPA is that the technology is a natural extension of existing WCDMA/GSM networks, or about 85 percent of the world's existing wireless networks, and therefore has the potential to be readily available to a large number of wireless users, creating a mass market for mobile broadband. By 2010, 71 percent of mobile broadband connections are projected to be HSPA-based. Ericsson's HSPA mobile broadband solution, part of Ericsson's Full Service Broadband offering, today enables download speeds of up to 14.4Mbps and upload speeds of 1.4Mbps. The advanced technology lets operators more than double their system capacity and cuts response times for interactive services. On average, users will be able to download 20 times faster than with a GSM/GPRS connection. Future evolution steps will increase the HSPA download speed to 42Mbps and the upload speed to 12Mbps. Ericsson offers HSPA support on many frequency bands ranging from 850MHz to 2.6GHz.

Ericsson's complete GSM core network can be upgraded to a common GSM/WCDMA core network simply through a software upgrade. By using a common core network, operators can easily launch 3G services and avoid all the costs, delays and quality issues associated with procuring and integrating new, 3G-dedicated equipment. Planning, operating and maintaining one common core network reduces ongoing operating expenses by more than 10 percent. Ericsson's complete common core offering includes all-IP softswitching, service-aware packet core, IP Multimedia Subsystem and proven telecom-quality IP/MPLS transport - based on the Redback-powered Packet Backbone Network solution. This enables operators to cut core-network costs while enabling HSPA-powered broadband access and attractive IP multimedia services to be launched efficiently.