"We are honored to further develop our relationship with BellSouth Colombia by supporting their nationwide network advancement with our CDMA2000 1X products and services," said Åke Persson, president of Ericsson Mobile Systems CDMA.

Ericsson's CDMA2000 solution is built on true 3G platforms that will enable BellSouth Colombia to reduce costs through decreased space requirements, deployment flexibility, simplified site acquisition and leasing, decreased construction costs and lower power consumption. BellSouth Colombia will also be able to reuse existing TDMA network components, maximizing their current investment.

Ericsson's true 3G approach for CDMA2000 will provide BellSouth Colombia a smooth upgrade to CDMA2000 1xEV-DO and 1xEV- DV.

Ericsson will begin shipping its end-to-end CDMA2000 1X solution to BellSouth Colombia next month. BellSouth Colombia is expected to launch the network commercially early in the first half of 2003.