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Malta could be among first group
of countries to have UMTS system
by Ivan Brincat
The third generation mobile system UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications
System) is expected to be launched in Malta in the second half
of next year.
Vodafone Malta managing director Joe Grioli told The Malta Business
Weekly that the problem with UMTS was not the development of
the network but the availability of handsets and terminals for
the system.
He said the company was committed to invest in this technology
and will offer it to Maltese customers when it becomes available.
Meanwhile, the regional sales director of Siemens AG Gabor Kovacs
said he was confident that Malta could be one of the first countries
in the world to have a UMTS system.
The investment over the next five years to develop the UMTS
system which supersedes GSM technology will run into tens of
millions of liri. Mr Grioli said Vodafone Malta will be investing
around Lm10m this year on the network and this does not include
any investment in the UMTS system.
With a personal handset similar to those in use today, users
will have universal access to information, irrespective of time
and place. Users will be free to receive or send e-mails, download
data from the Internet, check out the latest songs and video
clips, or have fun with new games.
The government must still determine the fees it is going to
charge for the UMTS frequencies. Both Vodafone and Go Mobile
can offer UMTS as this is stipulated in their licence but no
decision on the fees to be charged has been taken. In many countries,
telecommunication companies have had to fork out millions to
be granted a third generation licence and are now facing problems
on how to raise the finance required to build these networks.
The possibilities using UMTS are endless and its benefits are
being demonstrated during a roadshow being organised by Vodafone
and Siemens.
People were shown how one could book a cinema ticket, for example.
With a handheld terminal, a user is able to select the film,
receive a short description about that film, see the film trailer
and after that book a ticket at the nearest cinema either by
paying directly from the SIM card or by credit card.
Mr Grioli told The Malta Business Weekly that GPRS, a system
which increases the speed of data transmission on a GSM network
by 10 times should be ready by 13 May. “Our network will
be enabled by then but there are not enough mobile phone models
for the network. These are still not available,” he said.
UMTS is a giant leap forward for the telecommunications industry,
creating both a revolutionary standard and triggering the start
of a dynamic market evolution for consumer services, network
operators, service providers and modern businesses.
Vodafone Malta Business Development manager Joe Meilak told
The Malta Business Weekly that there was already interest among
content providers to provide the content for UMTS.
He said two newspapers, one of which is The Malta Independent,
offer updated news on SMSflash while The Malta Independent is
also testing WAP.
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