More delays for 3G

Mobile phone operator One2One has confirmed that it will not launch its third generation (3G) phone service until late 2003.

Until now, the company has not indicated a launch date.

It will offer General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) services sooner, but not until sometime next year. GPRS is a so-called 2.5G service which will offer higher data access speeds than GSM-based mobile phones.

One2One said it is cautious about the launch of GPRS-based services, which offer users an always-on service, because of the experience the market had with Wireless Access Protocol (Wap) services.

"We want to offer services that demonstrate the potential of the technology, and we don't feel that GPRS launches to date have done that," the company said.

"There was a lot of hype around Wap and we don't want to lead people down the same path."

One2One is not revealing details of the handsets it will support or the applications that will be available.

"Handsets are just starting to emerge, and we are more confident that next year handsets and the applications will demonstrate the capability of our GPRS network, which is ready to go."

Orange is more enthusiastic about GPRS. Services will be available in the next few weeks to Orange customers. It has not confirmed if this will be before or after Christmas, but is anxious to link the launch to the availability of the Ericsson T68 handset.

"We are waiting until this is available until we push GPRS," an Orange spokesperson said.

The phone has a large colour screen and supports HSCSD, which lets users use their phone as a modem, with data transfer speeds of up to 28.8kB per second.

Orange says it is on target to launch 3G services in 2003 but does not expect a predominance of handsets until 2005. BT has already launched its GPRS service but so far take-up has been limited.