Cellphone firms vie for GPRS supremacy

The neck-to-neck battle for supremacy between the country’s two leading telecommunications companies enters another field – this time, the general packet radio service (GPRS).

GPRS is a new cellular phone technology that allows information to be sent and received faster and more efficiently across a mobile telephone network. Data transfers using this technology are up to three times faster than the present wireless application protocol (WAP) service. WAP was the first attempt to connect the world of mobile telephones and the Internet.

GPRS is also known as 2.5 G (generation). The analog technology is the first generation of mobile phone technologies, followed by digital GSM which is known as 2G. The third generation (3G) will not be available in the country until a year or two from now. The 2.5G is considered as a pilot-test of 3G.

Globe Telecom, which invested $16 million so far in the new technology, announced that it has offered the new service to an initial batch of Globe Handyphone cellular phone service subscribers.

Globe’s initial GPRS users, who have a chance to experience the service for a limited time, are now among the first customers in the country to be able to use the new technology.

Rival Smart Communications, Inc. has also started offering GPRS and has spent several millions of dollars in various nodes and softwares.

In offering GPRS to its initial batch of Globe Handyphone subscribers, Globe provided the qualified subscribers with a limited number of GPRS-ready Ericsson R520 handsets and briefed them about the nature and advantages of the new service.

Globe Telecom’s GPRS offering introduces the first fully operational GPRS technology in the country. As such, Globe’s GPRS service is not only already up and ready for operation in specific areas such as Makati, Ortigas, Manila, and Metro Cebu, but the technology has also been offered to qualified Handyphone subscribers.

While the technology is now ready for all Globe users in general, GPRS handsets for commercial sale, however, are still to be made available in the local market by phone suppliers.

Providing mobile Internet access that is on-line all the time, GPRS also allows charging based on amount of data downloaded and not on airtime. The offering of GRPS complements Globe’s existing mobile data services, such as WAP and mobile office.