H3G, the Italian third-generation (3G) mobile operator controlled
by Hutchison Whampoa, has demonstrated what it claims to be the
world's first mobile phone call using Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System (UMTS) technology.
"It's the first phone call in the world using the new technology
over a real network," said H3G's chief executive officer, Vincenzo
Novari.
The call was made by Italy's communications minister, Maurizio
Gasparri, who used his mobile videophone to ring Guido Gentili, the
editor of Italian business daily
Il Sole 24 Ore.
"This is a significant leap into the future, given that with this
technology you can see images and navigate on the Internet,"
Gasparri told reporters. "Obviously, like all novelties, UMTS will
need a bit of time before it becomes a mass technology."
However, calls made via (3G) technology based on UMTS or its
equivalent outside of Europe - W-CDMA - may not be as much of a
novelty as Gasparri indicated.
Wind has recently been testing calls on a 3G network in Italy and
NTT DoCoMo started commercial 3G services in Japan based on W-CDMA
last year.
H3G, which is marketing its service under the brand name 3, is
investing €5bn (£3.2bn) in the Italian service and expects to cover
at least 80 cities by the end of the year, according to Novari.
"We're playing the role of the hare. Without us, the third
generation of mobile phones would have taken a few more years to
become a reality," he said.
The company will begin distributing its first videophones to
customers on an experimental basis next month and commercial
service is scheduled to begin in January.