Olli-Pekka Heinonen, Finnish Minister of Communications, makes a UMTS phone call from Japan to Finland

Mr. Olli-Pekka Heinonen, the Finnish Minister of Transport and Communications visiting Japan, made on November 16 the first inter-continental UMTS phone call to Finland. This was the first call of its kind between two operators' 3G networks, the NTT DoCoMo network in Japan and the Sonera network in Finland. UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) is the standard for third-generation mobile network (3G network).

The phone call was made between Mr. Olli-Pekka Heinonen, who is on a visit to Japan, and Mrs. Anni Vepsäläinen, Senior Vice President, Sonera Mobile Operations, at Sonera's premises in Finland.

Mr. Heinonen's visit to Japan will last until Sunday. The aim of the visit is to enhance cooperation between Finland and Japan, especially in the development of mobile Internet. Included in his program are meetings with the Mr. Toranosuke Katayama, Minister of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, and Mr. Heizou Takenaka, Minister of State.

Mr. Heinonen made the phone call from Tokyo, using the commercial 3G FOMA network of the Japanese mobile operator DoCoMo. The phone call was made with a Japanese phone and received with a Nokia 3G phone at Sonera's premises in Finland.

Sonera's 3G network is based on the third-generation WCDMA* standard, and the first phase of it is supplied by Nokia. The phone receiving the call is an early version of a commercial Nokia WCDMA phone. Nokia's GSM/WCDMA phones will be available on the market during the second half of 2002.

NTT DoCoMo launched its commercialised WCDMA-based FOMA (Freedom Of Mobile multimedia Access) 3G service on October 1, 2001. DoCoMo has announced that it will be promoting open mobile architecture for WCDMA-based 3G services.

Further information:

Antti Kohtala
Director of Unit for Networks and Competition
Ministry of Transport and Communications Finland
Tel. +358 9 160 2392

Mika Matturi
Vice President
Sonera Mobile Operations
Tel. +358 2040 58859

Arja Suominen
Vice President
Communications
Nokia Networks
Tel. +358 7180 38193


* 3GPP Release 99, December 2000 version. The December 2000 version is the first one enabling an end-to-end call using fully standardised network equipment and phones.