[3g-g]

Reported in cellular news, as Orange ramp up EDGE rollout in France could the UK see a similar upgrade to this new technology?


France Telecom subsidiary Orange said it will invest EUR200 million in France to shift its lower-quality mobile-network capabilities to high-speed data technology known as EDGE.

The two-year investment plan is part of a product launch aimed at expanding Orange's offering of high-speed data services, such as Internet access and television programming, to individuals and businesses.

The launch of EDGE services also reduces Orange's dependency on third-generation, or 3G, mobile technology.

With EDGE, which stands for enhanced data for global evolution, Orange said its network of high-speed mobile services will expand to cover 85% of the French public and 90% of the country's companies with over 50 employees.

Orange said the EDGE offer will be available for companies in three French areas in April and for the wider public this summer, or June and July.

"From now to the end of 2006, there will be a total of two million Orange clients that use high-speed services via our complementary EDGE, 3G and WiFi technologies," Didier Quillot, the CEO of Orange France, said in a statement.

With this offer, Orange becomes the first French mobile operator to sell EDGE technology.

EDGE can't carry as much data as 3G technology can but it costs operators less and provides data at a speed close to that of 3G quality.

Orange said that Nokia Corp., Samsung Corp., LG Electronics Corp. and Motorola Inc. will provide the phones equipped with EDGE capabilities.

I could only see this as an advantage to Orange, allowing them to have extended high speed data use outwith the large cities.

You can read the original article here. (http://www.cellular-news.com/search/index.php?term=3G&start=12)

[Ben]

Curious stuff indeed. I certainly wouldn't be complaining of Orange upgraded their UK GPRS infrastructure to EDGE. Hell, GSM signal would actually be useful again then! Orange, and all the networks in the UK, need to accept that they simply can't provide dense enough 3G coverage quickly enough due to the sheer volumeof new sites that need to be erected. EDGE will offer a high-speed alternative when cell breathing kicks in and in rural areas. I sincerely hope that the initiative doesn't stay in France, especially as a lot of the phones sold here already support EDGE.

[Jon3G]

What speeds does EDGE move at

[Jon3G]

sorry, seen the other post now

[3g-g]

In addition to the original post, Orange have launched EDGE services in France. I can only hope they move their way over to this side of the water ASAP!

Reported in http://www.investvalley.com


Orange France Expands High-Speed, Mobile Services with Nortel; Central and Southern France Customers Now Benefit From Enhanced GSM Offer

Business Editors/Technology Writers

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 18, 2005--Orange France has launched a new high-speed mobile service which covers 85 percent of French inhabitants.

The Central and Southern France regions operate on a solution provided by Nortel (NYSE:NT)(TSX:NT).

Using EDGE (Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution) technology which enables speeds from 100 to 200 Kilobytes per second, Orange business customers can now connect simply and easily to their company network, pick up their e-mails, surf the Internet and their Intranet, and access business applications three times faster than currently available on GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) networks.

EDGE technology enables 90 percent of business customers in France to access Orange's Mobile Broadband offer

'Orange's close collaboration with Nortel enabled a cost-effective, efficient migration to EDGE,' said Didier Quillot, chief executive officer, Orange France.

'More importantly, due to Nortel's aggressive planning, this operation was completed swiftly to meet our launch requirements.

For Orange, this service is a significant addition to the 3G services we launched at the end of 2004.'

In addition to GSM and recent EDGE deployments, Nortel is the sole supplier of Orange's UMTS network in the Cote d'Azur and across central regions of France, covering urban centers including Cannes, Nice, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Toulon, Grenoble and St. Etienne

The two companies started working together in 1992 when Nortel supplied Orange France with its 2G access network for Central and Southern France.

'Due to a long list of value-added benefits with Nortel's EDGE solution, Orange France has joined other Orange properties in selecting Nortel's technology,' said Christine Landrevot, president, Orange global account, Nortel.

'Besides Orange France, we have also successfully deployed EDGE solutions with Orange Slovensko and PTK Centertel in Poland.

Through our close relationship with Orange, we were able to complete this latest large-scale deployment in less than seven months.'

Nortel EDGE technology allows GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) operators to offer high-speed data services to end users, serve more mobile customers, and increase GSM network capacity to accommodate additional voice traffic.

Nortel's EDGE offering includes a superior power amplifier solution that improves performance and allows an upgrade to EDGE to be accomplished without network redesign.

The Nortel EDGE technology also provides a larger coverage area with the same quality of service compared to other industry products.

Nortel has designed, installed and launched more than 300 wireless networks in over 70 countries.

Nortel was the industry's first supplier with wireless networks operating in all advanced radio technologies (GSM/GPRS/EDGE, CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO, UMTS and WLAN), and is the only end-to-end provider of all new-generation wireless solutions.

[Jon3G]

I use a wireless solution for my business. The company that provides the solution contacted me last week and advised me that 02 may be upgrading to EDGE soon and would I be interested.

Watch this space

[3g-g]

Here's a link to the GSM World pages that cover every operator that runs a GSM network in the world. The link takes you to a list of worldwide operators that are either planning, in the stage of deploying or are running EDGE networks. Have a look through it... what UK operators can you see on there? Interesting...

Here's the link. (http://www.gsmworld.com/technology/edge/operators.shtml)

[Ben]

Wow! Nice find G! I strongly advise clicking that link my friends :D