Motorola to Expand GPRS Network in India

B A N G A L O R E,  India, Dec. 1 -- Motorola India Ltd. isnegotiating with a few local cellular operators to use a newglobal technology that allows faster and permanent Internetaccess via mobile phones, a senior company official has said.

“Our market research indicates that the demand for mobiledata services in India will initially be limited to the largermetros,” said Pramod Saxena, executive director and generalmanager of Motorola’s South Asia Network Solutions Division.

“We are in talks with Orange for the Bombay, New Delhi andCalcutta circles and Spice Telecom for Punjab and Karnataka toinstall GPRS on their existing cellular networks,” Saxena toldReuters in an e-mail interview.

A Steppingstone to 3G

GPRS, or General Packet Radio Service technology, is asteppingstone to third-generation mobile networks that allowshigher data transmission rates.

Motorola has already rolled out GPRS to BPL Mobile, one ofthe two cellular operators in India’s financial capital,Bombay.

“We are optimistic of more orders from other cellularoperators in the near future,” Saxena said.

Motorola India is a 100 percent subsidiary of Motorola Inc.of the United States, the world’s No. 2 mobile phonemaker.

GPRS features “always-on” capability, which is expected tomake wireless Internet access faster and easier. Mobile phonecarriers in Asia and Europe are in the early stages of rollingout GPRS.

Globally, second-generation phones using industry standardWAP, or Wireless Application Protocol, have not been popularbecause of the relatively long time they take to connect.

“GPRS will allow WAP-enabled Internet services in a packetenvironment at higher speed to make the services more costeffective,” Saxena said.

GPRS users will be charged only when data is downloaded —not while it is displayed on a user’s handset.

Motorola’s rivals Sweden’s Ericsson (LMEb.ST) and FinnishNokia are in the process of launching GPRS phones.