The largest coverage, highest quality of customer care, more than 150,000 subscribers, state of the art technologies and services – this is the reality which MagtiCom can be rightfully proud of as the company reaches the fourth anniversary of its commercial operation.

Past achievements of MagtiCom are impressive indeed, but mobile communication is the most dynamically developing industry and we cannot be content by what has been achieved. We can say without any doubt that MagtiCom keeps up with leading European operators and has established advanced standards of modern communications in Georgia. We will proceed with the introduction of the newest technologies and try to satisfy the increasing demands of subscribers. We believe you will find our analysis of global experience in this respect interesting, as well as a brief survey of the future of mobile communications.

It will take several more years until the 3G networks appear, but mobile operators are already trying to establish the types of services which will be offered later in 3G networks. Such possibilities are offered by GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), a migrating technology from the existing (2.5G) to the next generation.

Our readers are already aware that the major advantage of GPRS is high-speed data transfer and the access to the Internet in on-line mode. GPRS will allow the usage of qualitatively new services based on high-speed data transfer. According to the consulting company Merrill Lynch, the number of mobile data users is expected to grow from less than one per cent of total number of subscribers now, to more than ten per cent by the end of 2002. Experts forecast the demand for value-added services based on high-speed data transfer provided that the novelties will operate effectively and be easy-to-use.

Three main applications dominate the mobile market at present: voice communication (or conversation), entertainment and business. Voice communication contributes 90% of the total revenues for most operators. This is true even among recognized mobile data leaders such as Finnish Sonera and Japanese NTT DoCoMo. Although the subscribers of those companies send millions of text messages or blocks of data per month, the volume of voice transferring significantly exceeds that. It goes without saying that the true value of mobile communication is still in connecting people and not in providing computer access, however there are signs of a shift occurring in Europe, Japan and America towards data communication.

The real boom of text message transfer is expected in Europe. According to the data of GSM Association, the number of short text messages sent worldwide (mainly by Europeans) was 9 billion in August 2000 alone. This is three times as much compared to last year. As for Japan, nearly half of i-mode subscribers use their handsets to receive e-mail. These facts prove that the demand for data transfer and Internet access from mobiles indeed exists and will increase in the future.

It is only natural that business world was and remains the leading user of mobile telephone services. Mobile handsets are used for banking operations, receiving exchange news and checking e-mail. In Britain, BT Cellnet has launched PocketNet, a service that uses GPRS technology to connect business customers and their company computer networks.

As for entertainment, operators try to offer maximum customization to their subscribers. This includes the ability to download ring tones and icons for various terminals. The subscribers of Norwegian Telenor requested more than 1 million various ring tones during the first quarter of this year. No less popular are the graphic screensavers on mobile displays.

The possibility to make small-scale transactions or financial operations will be a significant innovation for company operators establishing the 3G technologies. This service is a comparatively new element in mobile communication, but it adds an attraction to it and contributes to the change in the traditional attitudes of customers. Soon mobile handsets will become more than a means to exchange voice information. Mobile operators will have to constantly work on the customer awareness in the latest innovations so as to make new services available for mass consumers and not only for the elite.

The successful implementation of 3G-based services depends upon the cooperation among companies. Mobile operators and news agencies understand the benefits of collaboration of these two strong industries. CNN, the world news giant, considers the mobile Internet an additional way to spread its own service. At the same time, mobile operators have the possibility of offering a new type of service. CNN has already finalized agreements with several European operators for providing news on a regular basis.

The only thing we would like to add to our little survey is that the main goal of the development of telecommunications industry is to make mobile communication available to anyone, anytime and anywhere. GSM, through the application of GPRS technology, is the first step in a personal communications system: data transfer, fax, short messages, voice transfer, multimedia, mobile Internet and other value-added services put into effect the aim of a personal communications system and create the basis for the mobile technologies of future generations. Customers are not interested in complicated services. They need a simple, practical and effectively operating ones.

Giorgi Avaliani
Head of the Sales Department
MAGTICOM