Manx Telecom Close To Launching 3G Network

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

10 July 2001

Last week BTwireless took another step closer to delivering its 3G network on the Isle of Man with a successful public demonstration of mobile video-telephony. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Manx Telecom, BTwireless has announced that it has made its first public 3G video call over the Manx network.

In a statement released by Manx Telecom, Chris Hall, managing director of the company, said that the demonstration signified 'another key step on the way to rolling out 3G on the Isle of Man.' He claimed: 'We are on course to showcase 3G services later this year. Along with our project partners at NEC and Siemens, we are making progress every day and achieving significant milestones with 3G technology and devices, all of which provide BTwireless with invaluable experience and learning. This has culminated in us demonstrating a public video call over a 3G network for the first time.'

The video call, together with the previous public 3G voice call made on the 15 May, used the NEC commercial 3G handsets over the Manx Telecom 3G network, supplied jointly by NEC and Siemens. For the video calls, NEC's palm-sized Image Viewer Terminals (IVTs) were connected to the 3G handsets to provide the callers with an image of the other person they were talking to.

Manx Telecom asserted that the demonstration provided further project confidence as 3G video calls are now being made outside of a 'test environment' and on the actual operational network.

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