Telenor to introduce Mobile Office with 3G

Press release
Fornebu
4 minute read
As the first mobile operator in the Nordic region, Telenor today introduces a new version of the Mobile Office that supports 3G services, and the wireless data transfer technologies UMTS, WLAN and GSM/GPRS. Telenor's Mobile Office will finally turn laptop computers into truly mobile workstations with high-speed Internet connections.

"The Mobile Office will make it even easier to work wirelessly on laptop computers. The Mobile Office data card enables customers to stay online with their jobs anywhere, and the card will always identify the network that provides the best coverage and speeds. We have also made an effort to ensure that the Mobile Office is easy to install and easy to use," says Rolv-Erik Spilling who is responsible for Telenor's mobile activities in the Norwegian business market.

The Mobile Office from Telenor consists of a PC card from Belgian Option, and software developed by Telenor. The Mobile Office will provide users with broadband speeds of up to 54 Mbps with WLAN, and up to 384 kbps with the new UMTS network (3G). If neither of these two technologies is available, the Mobile Office will connect to the regular GSM network with GPRS speeds of 40-50 kbps.

Telenor launched Norway's first UMTS mobile network on 1 December 2004. During March of this year, Telenor will supply UMTS in approximately 140 cities and densely populated areas (with more than 2,800 people) all over Norway (coverage chart available on www.telenormobil.no ). The UMTS network will be completed in 2007. In addition to the UMTS network, Telenor already has around 350 wireless zones in hotels, Statoil service stations, and conference centres as well as in the major Norwegian airports.

Prior to today's introduction, Telenor has carried out tests of the Mobile Office involving 30 pilot customers in the Norwegian business market. Overall, the feedback has been very positive. 84 per cent of the pilot customers said installing the Mobile Office was easy, and 70 per cent spent less than 10 minutes on the installation. 87 per cent said they were very happy with the Mobile Office solution at the end of the test period.

The Mobile Office will be available to all Telenor mobile customers with business subscription plans, and will be sold at most specialist sales outlets from Monday 14 February. The Mobile Office supports laptop PCs equipped with type II PC card slots and the operative systems Windows 2000 or XP.

For more information, please contact:

Head of information Arild S. Johannessen, Telenor Division Business Market. Tel: +47 481 91 921