Hutchison
3g mobile phone video callHutchinson demonstates
person-to-person video call over UMTS01
December 2002 The first person-to-person video call
via 3
handsets over the UMTS commercial network of 3
was conducted successfully last week between Rome and Milan, as well
as Rome and London, which marked a major achievement for the Hutchison
Group's 3G technology delivery. This groundbreaking
event was the fruit of extensive successful development and testing
work by 3 both in Italy and in the UK and
was witnessed by an invited audience in Rome. Both companies are in
their respective user trial phases, designed to prepare and test 3's
suite of products and services ahead of commercial rollout to retail
customers in the near future. The calls were
conducted between the Italian Minister of Communications Maurizio Gasparri
in Rome, the Editor-in-Chief of the leading Italian business newspaper
Il Sole 24 Ore Guido Gentili in Milan, and Hutchison Whampoa Group
Deputy Chairman Victor Li in London. Minister Gasparri
commented that this call is a significant leap into the future, given
that with 3G capabilities, one could see images and navigate on the
Internet while on the go. "This marks an exciting
step forward in our ongoing phased rollout of services", said
Hutchison Deputy Chairman Victor Li, who made the video call on 3
in person from London to the Minister in Rome. "The products and
services we are building bear out what the Minister witnessed for himself
today: these are not simple telephones, they are powerful mobile multimedia
devices designed for the eye as well as the ear. Quite simply, there
is nothing like 3 in the market." Besides
live person-to-person video calls, 3 will offer communication, information
and entertainment in a wide range of content and services on the move.
Further details of 3's forthcoming products
and services in Italy and in the UK will be revealed in the coming
weeks. www.hutchison3g.com | 
