Nokia launched its first 3G telephone on 26th September.

At the end of 2002 Sonera will be launching its first third-generation mobile communications service. A wider commercial launching of the services is timed for 2003.

A heated debate is taking place in Finland in 2002 about UMTS i.e. the third generation of mobile telephones, the 3G. Sonera's UMTS network has been in operation since 1 January 2002 in limited areas in Finnish towns of Helsinki, Oulu, Tampere and Turku. The advantage with UMTS is that it will enable greater amounts of data and moving images to be transmitted wirelessly.

Actual UMTS networks are not yet being used elsewhere in the world. Since 2001 Japan has been operating its own FOMA, a third-generation mobile communications network based on technology that is slightly different from UMTS.

>> www.nokia.com
>> www.sonera.com