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Hutchison still aiming to be first UK supplier of 3G phones

Hutchison 3G UK Ltd has dropped another piece of the jigsaw into place in its bid to be the first to launch a 3G product in the UK.

The company has bought in a vital component of its 3G systems: a messaging platfform from CMG Wireless Data Solutions. This 3G Internet Protocol (IP) based messaging platform will allow it to offer voicemail, e-mail, fax and multimedia messaging in a single environment to mobile users.

The platform includes such CMG products based on IP and other standards such as the Multimedia Messaging Service Centre, Wireless Service Broker and the Short Messaging Service Centre.

CMG is said to have beaten off bids from around six or seven other suppliers for the contract.

This global deal allows Hutchison to deploy the CMG across other Hutchison subsidiaries including Austria, Australia, Denmark, Hong Kong, Israel and Italy.

The announcement of the deal follows one with BBC Technology a few weeks ago whereby the BBC will turn Hutchison licensed content into the new standard 3G universal mobile telephone system (UMTS) compatible data.

Other deals that have been announced include one with 186k to provide the nationwide dark fibre network with Nortel to light the system. Hutchison has also entered into a roaming agreement with BT and with 3G Lab to develop multimedia applications.

A company spokesman said that other announcements were still in the pipeline for other pieces of the middleware, a possible further site sharing agreement and there are still a slew of content agreements yet to be announced.

Hutchison is still sticking to its promise to have a system out to the public by the end of the year.