News

"Stupid to invest huge amounts in UMTS networks..,?"- mmO2

by Guy Kewney | posted on 12 March 2002


Reality broke through the 3G hype at Hannover's CeBIT show today, when Peter Erskine, CEO of mmO2 said a "wait and see" approach would be sensible.

Guy Kewney

Erskine doesn't appear to believe that even GPRS is imminent as a money-making technology.

He was reported by Bloomberg as saying: "I don't think anyone will be so stupid to invest huge amounts in UMTS networks before people know the market's there."

His view on GPRS - it will be a year away: "The challenge for GPRS will be the availability of dual phones. We need several vendors, a range of products and serious volume. I now feel it'll be summer of 2003."

Third generation, he indicated, will take longer still. "We're not going to invest in networks without traffic to carry," Erskine said.