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Following the replacement of O2's previous supplier of GSM base station network, Nokia has become the sole supplier for O2's 2G base station infrastructure in the UK. This has been made possible through the close collaboration of both organisations and integration of project teams resulting in the rapid change out of over 2000 base stations. Not only has this been achieved in challenging time scales but also has enabled O2 to significantly improve network quality to the extent that it has independently been recognised as having the best ever UK mobile call success rate, beating all figures previously published by Oftel.

As the majority WCDMA RAN supplier to the mmO2 group, Nokia is committed to supporting high quality end user experience for O2's 3G Customers, specifically within the M25 London motorway ring area. Part of this project is a tuning and optimisation programme that has been employed to enhance interoperation between 2G and 3G services across the Nokia supplied infrastructure.

"We are pleased to be building out the system that will bring high-speed 3G services to our Irish, German and UK customers and we chose Nokia's 3G system thanks to its good performance and the solidity of its system roadmap," says Dave Williams, Chief Technology Officer, O2.

"We are determined to ensure our 3G network provides the best possible operation in terms of reliability and coverage, especially in urban areas. We know that O2 customers will expect a lot from our 3G offering and we plan to satisfy that expectation," he adds.

"We are happy to be working with O2 in bringing 3G to some of the world's premier markets for advanced mobile multimedia services," says Peter Khne, Vice President, Networks, Nokia.

"The roll-out of Nokia's system in all three of these countries is a clear endorsement for the quality of our network solution. And we are looking forward to playing a continuing role beyond these initial roll-outs," he adds.

O2 and Nokia have also successfully completed a Push to Talk over Cellular (PoC) trial using commercially available technology and terminals. O2 is now evaluating its approach to this potential new service.

Nokia has been the major GSM supplier to O2 networks since 1990.