BT loses faith with 3G

A damning indictment or a mobile also-ran souring the grapes?...

BT has stated that UMTS technology will not improve current mobile services in a document listing the particulars for mmO2, its spinning-off mobile division. In the draft document as yet not issued by BT, the company warns that 3G is not enough to match the public's expectations of mobile services and general improvements are unlikely. BT also stated that existing 2G networks, consisting of radio masts dotted around the country, are unlikely to be enough to run 3G networks, as originally hoped. It adds that complications are to be expected in the production of future masts and the enlargement of networks because of planning restrictions, especially for lodging masts in rural areas. Although documents such as this leaked BT mmO2 draft commonly state worst-case scenarios for investment considerations, BT has taken a stronger and far more negative view of the 3G market than Orange, the most recent mobile organisation to float, did in February this year. As reported in the Financial Times, the document states that 3G throughout Europe "may not prove superior to existing technologies" and adds that the limited number of suppliers of UMTS networking equipment and slow development of technologies for the service "may mean we cannot provide sufficient network capacity". Orange simply said: "The group's results of operations could be materially adversely affected if its suppliers fail to provide it with adequate equipment."