First High-speed Global Mobile Data Roaming Trials

British Telecommunications PLC
2 March 2000



       BT AND AT&T MOBILE ALLIANCE ANNOUNCES FIRST

      HIGH-SPEED GLOBAL MOBILE DATA ROAMING TRIALS

Advance, the BT and AT&T global mobile alliance, today

announced that BTCellnet, AT&T Wireless Services,

SmarTone of Hong Kong and Taiwan's FarEasTone will

conduct the world's first general packet radio services

(GPRS) pre-commercial roaming trial.

     The trials will start in the second quarter of this

year and will ensure the companies gain the essential

learning required to enable them to lead the development

and implementation of high speed data mobile roaming

services. The trial also aims to assess network

stability, integration of network and connectivity. GPRS

is a new technology for transmitting data over GSM mobile

networks. It will be commercially available in the second

half of 2000 and will provide customers in Hong Kong,

Taiwan and the UK with mobile data connections at more than

twice the speed of today's desktop modems.

     AT&T Wireless Services, Inc., will establish a non-

commercial test network in New York City, Basking Ridge,

New Jersey, Menlo Park, California and Redmond,

Washington to support the trial. While AT&T Wireless uses

TDMA technology in the United States, its GPRS

project will help evolve the company to TDMA-EDGE third

generation digital technology which includes a new

generation of GSM technology. The combined TDMA-GSM

convergence to EDGE will provide eventually coverage to

most major population centres around the world.

     Ian Stone, chief executive officer of SmarTone,

said: 'We are highly confident in being able to conduct

successful trials on GPRS roaming service. The co-

operation between the four companies is a building block

for even stronger partnerships on top of our current

close working relations.'

     Jordan Roderick, executive vice president of AT&T

Wireless' international division, said: 'This is another

example of how our companies can together create new

services and products for customers.'

     Peter Richardson, director of BTCellnet corporate,

said: 'Clearly by our four companies working together we

will gain competitive advantage and work towards creating

seamless mobile communication services around the world

for our customers.'

     Joseph O'Konek, president of Far EasTone, said:

'This announcement demonstrates the importance of our

global and regional alliance to consumers in Taiwan, Hong

Kong, the UK and the US. The strength of GSM's success

has been its global roaming capabilities. Extending

global roaming for high speed data services ensures our

customers will have access to their information where

they need it.'

     While other service providers in the world are still

talking about the construction of GPRS systems,

BTCellnet, AT&T Wireless, FarEasTone and SmarTone lead

others by already starting to employ GPRS and data

applications.

     AT&T already has a strong national data network

employing Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) and will

eventually move its customers to high speed EDGE

technology.

     For customers, browsing the Internet will become

simple, fast and convenient. Compared with the 

capabilities offered now, GPRS transmits data in excess 

of 115 kbps.  New value added services will be provided 

to users on the move with news bulletins and information 

tailored to their requirements. GPRS will also be suitable 

for video and multi-media applications. New GPRS modems 

and phones will be required for customers who want to use  

the new services.


     GPRS uses packet-switching data-handling technology.

Information is transported as a series of  'packets',

rather than a continuous stream of bits. This technology

maximises the efficiency of network resources and enables

users to be always connected and on-line.