"Mobile users in South Africa will now be able to enjoy the benefits of new exciting services", said Jan Embro, vice president, Ericsson market unit sub-Saharan Africa. "We are delighted and proud to be the partner of choice to supply the 3G network to MTN in South Africa. This is the next phase of technology to be deployed in Africa".

The announcement follows MTN's strategic move to provide 3G services to its customers during the first half of 2005.  MTN will provide to the market content and applications from the global arena.  MTN will leverage on Ericsson's experience from being a supplier in more than 50 per cent of the globally commercially launched 3G/WCDMA networks.

"Ericsson is the leader in driving the growth of the 3G market in Africa and the world. We have been the main driving force in the standardization of WCDMA and are in addition also supplying CDMA2000 systems, the two main 3G technology paths, and lead the market in research and number of patents granted", said Jan Embro.

Ericsson offers true end-to-end 3G and EDGE solutions that lay the foundation for a smooth and cost-effective migration path from second-generation GSM networks. Because Ericsson's WCDMA and GSM solutions are built on a common core network, service network, mediation and network management systems, its customers can deploy 3G quickly and cost-effectively.

 

Ola Rembe

Ericsson Group Function Communications

Phone: +46 730 244 873, +46 8 719 6992

E-mail: press.relations@ericsson.com

Lungi Tyali

Communications

Ericsson market unit sub-Saharan Africa

Phone: +27 11 844 2306; mobile:  +27 83 222 6066

E-mail: press.relations@ericsson.com