Motorola Announces Successful Deployment of Optimus’ 3G Network
Motorola’s infrastructure sector today announced that it completed the first phase of deployment of Optimus’ 3G mobile services network, ahead of the 1st July launch date demanded by the Portuguese regulator.
Deployment success was ensured by Motorola’s strong relationship with Optimus and its extensive experience deploying networks in difficult terrain while integrating with legacy equipment from other vendors. Optimus’ 3G service was launched commercially at the beginning of June 2004, only six months after the contract was awarded in January 2004.
The network provides coverage to Optimus’ subscribers in northern Portugal, which includes a population of over four million. Motorola equipped Optimus’ network with compact and easy-to-install Horizon 3G base stations, which enabled the short deployment time and provide a simple, future migration path to High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA).
With Motorola’s UMTS network solution, Optimus offers its customers excellent quality of service, with a low drop-call rate and a seamless hand-over between 2G and 3G calls. In addition, Motorola’s network optimization and radio planning services ensure quality coverage and excellent performance is achieved.
Jose Pinto Correia, chief technical officer of Optimus said: “Being able to launch our 3G services ahead of schedule is a clear demonstration of our committed relationship with Motorola and the expertise, quality and value that Motorola brings to our business. By meeting the challenges of deploying a mobile network in the difficult terrain and in a short timescale, Motorola ensured that we are able to offer our customers innovative 3G services through our Optimus Zone portal.”
“As the European UMTS market continues to grow, the completion of Optimus’ network deployment is another step in Motorola’s continued strategy to make 3G a reality,” said Margaret Rice-Jones, corporate vice president of Motorola and general manager for Motorola’s infrastructure sector, EMEA. “Our experience and technical strength gives us an advantage in helping customers such as Optimus to launch their UMTS networks quickly and efficiently.”
