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GPRS (general packet radio service) also known as 2.5G, is a standard for high-speed mobile data services and Internet connections to mobile devices. The technology, similar to I-mode in Japan, offers Internet connections which are between three and four times faster than current wireless services (GSM).
The high-speed data services, expected to be most popular among corporate users in initial months, will let users access e-mail, news, games, entertainment applications and even back office utilities, such as intranet access through mobile handsets. Moreover, the technology will let users access the Internet, both WAP and the traditional Web, through more sophisticated mobile devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and laptop computers.
GPRS services have already been launched in many countries throughout Europe, including the UK, France, Germany and the Nordic states and Digifone says it now has roaming agreements in place for Irish users visiting the UK and Germany.
Pricing for Digifone's GPRS service, unlike pricing for 2G data services, are calculated by the amount of information downloaded not by how long users are on-line.
The company's consumer offerings, GPRS basic, GPRS 1 and GPRS 5, allow users to access WAP, e-mail and news. In the higher cost consumer options however, users will also be able to access additional sports and entertainment content as well as m-shopping and m-banking applications.
The "basic" offering has no monthly fee, but users will pay EUR0.05 per 10 kilobytes (KB) of information downloaded. In the GPRS 1 and GPRS 5 services, users will pay between EUR7.50 per month and EUR12.50 per month, but are allowed 1MB and 5MB respectively of free downloads per month, with charges of EUR2 for each MB beyond their monthly allowance.
Meanwhile the company's corporate offering will cost business users anywhere between EUR20 and EUR50 per month, in terms of monthly access fees. At these prices users will be able to receive between 10MB and 50MB of data per month at no additional charge. Additional data prices range between EUR2 and EUR1.50 per MB downloaded.
Apart from the difference in cost, the primary distinction between the consumer and corporate offering is what types of services can be accessed and over what devices. The corporate options give users all of the functionality of the consumer service, but in the higher two ranges includes full Web browsing over laptops as well as access to back office computer systems.
Pre-paid GPRS services are expected to be launched by the mobile operator this summer.
While Digifone has approved only three mobile phones for use on its high-speed data network, the company is hyping Research In Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry, a mobile device designed specifically for e-mail. The BlackBerry has been hugely popular in the US and mmO2 is banking on its success here after ordering 170,000 for use in its four main markets, Ireland, the UK, Germany and the Netherlands. BlackBerry's appeal is its unique "push" technology, which allows e-mails to be automatically received without the need to dial in.
Despite the additional services, higher connection speeds and more sophisticated handsets that GPRS will bring, the service is also expected to open up a new and highly lucrative revenue source for Europe's debt-laden mobile operators. In fact research company Datamonitor expects 27 million GPRS handsets will be sold next year in Europe alone.
Meanwhile the Yankee Group expects a 26 percent, 16 percent and 10 percent increase in revenue in 2001, 2002 and 2003, respectively, bringing total service revenues for European mobile operators over the three-year period to USD332 billion. The same company says that by 2006 average revenue per user in Europe will hit USD35 a month and in that same year 36 percent of service revenue in Europe will come from data services.
"With data expected to account for over 25 percent of service revenue across the O2 Group by 2004, this launch, the result of a EUR45 million investment, is of immense importance to our business," said Danuta Gray, chief executive of Digifone. She went on to say that the launch of the high-speed mobile data service was a "final validation" of Digifone's commitment to the provision of 3G.
Yet 3G, which will offer even faster and more advanced mobile applications, is still thought to be at least 12 months away in most of Europe and even further off in Ireland. Additionally some industry analysts, and even some users, are not yet sold on GPRS after initial difficulties with the technology that included complex pricing plans and a lack of handsets, or poorly designed handsets, in markets that lauched the services early. In fact some operators in Sweden and Italy are now offering GPRS for free as a means to attract and retain customers to the service.
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