STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Feb. 19, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Now Vodafone Customers will be able to work even more effectively whilst away from the office. Next Monday Vodafone will be opening its Swedish 3G network with the introduction of the Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS PC card - Vodafone Sweden's first 3G service. The 3G card will allow Vodafone's business customers to access their e-mail, calendars, the Internet and their company's internal networks from their laptops up to 10 times faster than currently possible with GPRS.
The Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS datacard is Vodafone's new mobile PC card, the first product to be launched in Vodafone's range of 3G business mobile solutions. Like it 2G predecessor, the Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS datacard comes with Vodafone's simple-to use "Plug & Play" solution and a user-friendly dashboard interface. The key difference is the mobile broadband transmission speed of up to 384 KBPS, and the new high-volume data bundles.
"This is the first, crucial stage of our 3G rollout, where we are allowing our customers faster remote access to their e-mail and office system. We have received very positive feedback during our customer trials with the 3G card over the last few months and we are now happy to launch the commercial data service. Initially, distribution of the card will be limited to Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo and Karlskrona and we will expand distribution further over the coming months," says Geraldine Wilson, Chief Commercial Officer at Vodafone Sweden.
The 3G card is compatible with both Vodafone Sweden's 3G network - which is one of Europe's most extensive 3G network - and Vodafone Sweden's GPRS network. This means that users can access their e-mail, for example, even when they are outside the 3G-network coverage area.
High-volume data bundles
Vodafone offers two new high volume data bundles - 50 MB and 150 MB. These bundles cost 400 SEK/month (50MB) and 900 SEK/month (150MB) for customers who combine their voice and data subscription at Vodafone. The largest bundle gives a price of only 6 SEK/MB. It is also possible to subscribe for a separate data only subscription for 50SEK extra per month, and the bundles then cost SEK450 SEK/month (50 MB) and 950 SEK/month (150 MB). As an introductory offer, anyone signing up for either the 50MB or the 150MB bundle before April 30 2004 will have 50 MB of extra data traffic per month for free for three months. The recommended retail price for the 3G-card with a 12 month data subscription is 3395 SEK. (VAT excluded in all prices above).
"We know that there is considerable demand from companies and their employees for the type of services we now provide through our 3G network. We believe the combination of our new easy to use 3G card and the new high volume data bundles represents a great proposition for business customers. We are also happy to reward early customers with our introductory offer during this initial phase, Geraldine Wilson says.
For the 3G card, Vodafone will be maintaining the same holistic approach to customer support that it did with previous PC cards in the series. Vodafone's customer services will handle all queries regarding the hardware (PC cards), software (user interface) and data traffic.
Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS datacard will be available from Monday 23 February in Vodafone's stores and via selected partners in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmo and Karlskrona.
Pictures of the 3G card are available for download at http://www.vodafone.se/433.jsp
For more information, please contact:
Geraldine Wilson, Chief Commercial Officer, Vodafone Sweden Telephone: +46 734 25 26 01, e-post: geraldine.wilson@vodafone.se
Magnus Forsbrand, CTO, Vodafone Sweden Telephone: +46 708 33 10 41, e-post: magnus.forsbrand@vodafone.se
Hans-Olof Johansson, PR Manager, Vodafone Sweden Telephone: +46 709 61 47 23, e-mail: hans-olof.johansson@vodafone.se
Comparison examples speed 3G and GPRS To get a comparative idea of the amount of data 1 MB includes, a normal e-mail without an attachment is between 1 KB - 10 KB in size.
The 3G network is up to 10 times faster than GPRS. To put this into a comparative perspective, a 400-KB PowerPoint presentation (about 10 pages) takes around 20 seconds to download at the highest 3G speed. With GPRS it takes around 3 minutes.
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