O2 has secured a number of industry first’s in mobile data communications. It was the first company in the world to launch and rollout a commercial medium-speed GPRS (or 2.5G) mobile data network. It was also the first company to introduce a working 3G network in Europe and recently launched Europe’s first commercial HSDPA (3.5G) service.
Our success in Germany has encouraged us to accelerate the growth of the business by means of increased network investment to deliver a high-quality customer experience from our own UMTS platform. At the same time we have launched HSDPA on the Isle of Man and will roll out this capability to other businesses in the second half of this year. HSDPA offers speeds of up to 1Mbps (compared with UMTS with speeds of 384kbps) to all our customers, offering a true mobile broadband experience.
O2 launched Europe’s first commercial High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) service (in November, 2005). HSDPA offers communication speeds up to three times faster than current commercial 3G services.
HSDPA significantly enhances the appeal of mobile data and Internet services. Customers can benefit from easy-to-use services, rich content applications and messaging across a range of advanced handsets.
In September 2005, O2 commenced one of Europe’s most comprehensive user trials of multi-channel TV to mobile handsets. Situated in Oxford, England, the trial involves 375 O2 customers and is being run in partnership with Arqiva. It offers 24 hour, live access to 16 TV channels, including: BBC ONE, BBC TWO, BBC News 24, ITV 1, ITV 2, Channel 4, Five, British Eurosport, Cartoon Network, CNN, Discovery Channel, MTV, Shorts TV, Sky News, Sky Sports News and Sky Travel.
Interim results of the trial released in January 2005 revealed a high level of consumer interest. They showed that 83% of triallists are satisfied with the end-to-end service provided. In addition, 76% of triallists indicate that they would take up the service within 12 months.
The service is based on the new DVB-H (digital video broadcasting - handheld) transmission technology and works by beaming a signal to a digital TV receiver, which is attached to Nokia's new 7710 smartphone, transforming it into a portable TV. DVB-H is ideally suited to sending high-quality, digital TV pictures from a single source to multiple users in a way that complements the one-to-one video streaming which is already possible via today's GPRS and 3G mobile data networks.
In addition, O2 has launched commercial wireless LAN services in the UK, Germany and Ireland In the UK, O2 Connection Manager is a piece of software that automatically links a laptop to the fastest type of wireless network, whether its GPRS, 3G or Wireless LAN. In Germany, customers using surf@home can replace their fixed Internet connection and have their calls charged at favourable Genion local call rates as well as online access. PCs, laptops or PDAs are plugged into a box which connects to the Internet via 3G. A gateway makes the 3G connection to the Internet, thereby replacing the telephone socket. It features a wLAN, a LAN and a USB interface.
Going forward, O2 believes in an evolution to an IP (Internet Protocol) centric world. Core to this is Voice over IP, or VoIP, which we believe will include voice as well as incremental value-added services such as presence, location and integration to other products, such as video-based applications. Many of these value-adds are available only to the mobile network providers. O2 is analysing service propositions, which will leverage the value of IP while meeting customer expectations for quality and reliability.
The enlarged Telefónica Europe Group is helping O2 towards its push to moving beyond mobile into fixed broadband and converged services.
We are already seeing evidence of this such as the launch of DSL in Germany. Here, O2 is the only provider of integrated communication services in Germany to offer mobile, fixed voice and fixed internet services. O2 DSL customers get one monthly bill, backed by a single customer service number and competitive monthly charges. Customers can choose from three different DSL packages and will receive a discount if they are also a mobile contract customer of O2.
O2 is also providing a number of converged fixed / mobile offers in the Czech Republic and, O2's recent launch of broadband in the UK and Ireland, coupled with our partnership with Telefónica, will help speed up this shift and enable us to draw on their considerable strengths whilst maintaining in-country market needs and dynamics.
O2 TV, a new IPTV service currently available to more than 1 million fixed lines in Prague, Brno, and many other cities. Using the Imagenio platform developed by Telefónica, customers can access hundreds of movies, and a wide selection of TV channels and radio stations, as well as Videotéka (the Library), a virtual video rental shop and TV Archiv (TV Archive) which enables customers to watch films, serials, or sports broadcasts that they have missed, for up to seven days. There are two basic programme packages, along with six additional programme offers. Launched on 1 September 2006, by late October O2 TV had gained 5,000 customers.
