Nokia introduces 3G phone model tailor-made for TeliaSonera

Special phones seen as alternative to package deals linking handsets and subscriptions

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Nokia has announced that it will introduce a third generation (3G) mobile telephone handset tailor-made to the needs of the mobile operator TeliaSonera. The aim is to make the use of 3G technology easier, and to promote the new standard.
      The move indicates a new attitude on Nokia’s part toward mobile operators. This year the Finnish manufacturer has been more keen than before to listen to the wishes of the service providers.
      The Nokia 6630 phone will have a version specially made for the needs of TeliaSonera customers. The handset has a special Sonera button which gives the user direct access to the operator’s service menu. Pressing the button brings the user to the pages of the mobile portal SoneraPlaza.
      The same model can be custom-fitted for any mobile operator - for instance, that of Elisa, which opens its 3G network in November. The handset model will come onto the market by the end of the year.
      Anni Vepsäläinen, President of TeliaSonera Finland, sees the production of custom telephones as an alternative to the linkages of mobile phone subscriptions and sales of handsets.
     
In many countries a mobile operator will offer new subscribers a handset at a substantial discount in return for a commitment not to change operators within a fixed period of time - often a year or two. In Finland such deals are illegal.
      In Finland Elisa has called for a change in the law to allow such package arrangements. One of the reasons it puts forward is that the service provider could install the right settings into the handset, making it easier for the customer to take advantage of new services.
      The Ministry of Transport and Communications is currently examining the possibility of changing the law. A formal decision is coming in November, but indications are that the law will not change.
     
Vepsäläinen and Sari Baldauf, the President and General Manager of Nokia Networks, announced the new 3G services of TeliaSonera on Wednesday.
      TeliaSonera got a clear head start in publicity when it became the first 3G operator in Finland.
      It is not quite accurate to speak of new third-generation mobile phone services of TeliaSonera, because all of the services are also available on the older telephones - just much more slowly.
      However, the higher speed allows for the introduction of new services which would be very difficult to use with the previous generation of handsets.
      Vepsäläinen says that new services are being developed together with Finnish television networks; TV news of the public service broadcaster YLE will be available on Sonera’s 3G phones.
      The operator is also working together with the Finnish Meteorological Institute and with Genimap, which produces electronic maps.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Sonera finally launches UMTS network in twenty locations around Finland (12.10.2004)

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