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Almost two months earlier than foreseen, Proximus has started the technical launch of its UMTS network, the third generation of mobile telephony. This launch is an essential phase in the roll-out process for this new technology, and a prelude to the market launch planned for 2005 at the latest.

On 8 February 2002, the Minister for Telecommunications, Public Enterprises and Participations decided to postpone for a further year the roll-out of UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecom System - third-generation mobile telephony), as written into the licenses allocated by the Belgian State in March 2001. The technical opening of the network was scheduled to take place before 15 September 2003, with a 30% coverage of the population before January 2006.

Almost two months earlier than the official start date, Proximus is the first Belgian mobile operator to take up the technical challenge of third-generation mobile telephony, and thus renew its commitment to offering its customers a superior-quality mobile telephony network.

Almost ten years after the introduction of GSM in Belgium, Proximus is now testing future mobile telephony applications such as mobile video telephony, video streaming and video messaging, and continues to deploy its UMTS network. The commercial launch of first third-generation services is planned for 2005 at the latest.

By investing in UMTS technology, Proximus intends to offer its customers a comprehensive mobile solution for access to the information they need, regardless of the type of technology they use, i.e., GSM, GPRS, UMTS or Wireless LAN. On top of that, Proximus continues to invest in its GSM/GPRS network -more than 65 million euro in 2003- to continuously assure the offering of a mobile telephony network of superior quality.