Vodafone U.K. has claimed the honor of having made the first live voice call over a commercial 3G mobile network.

Working with Ericsson, its principle infrastructure supplier, Vodafone made the live voice call using a prototype of a 3G handset connected to the first phase of its W-CDMA network in the Thames Valley; the call was received on a fixed line in Newbury.

Torbjorn Possne, executive vice president and head of Ericsson’s business unit W-CDMA, PSC, said that the live call, using commercial equipment, is important to Ericsson’s rollout plan to ensure an early market launch for pioneering customer like Vodafone

The 3G live call marks a significant step forward in the evolution and development of rich audio and video applications and advanced m-commerce services.

Vodafone is expecting to launch commercial 3G services in the second half of 2002, but until then it is offering its subscribers faster access to the mobile Internet via its GPRS network.

To accommodate its 2.5G network, the telecom will deliver 3G services to subscribers using dual-band handsets. At present it is working with a host of handset manufacturers such as Ericsson, Casio, Motorola and Nokia.

For more information: http://www.ericsson.com/infocenter/news/WCDMAcall.html