Press Releases

Telecel Vodafone has commercially released GPRS technology (General Packet Radio Service) in virtually the whole of Portugal.

At this stage GPRS is accessible to all Customers of post-paid services who own the Motorola Timeport 260 mobile telephone, the first cellular phone to be sold in Portugal. This phone allows download speeds of 40 Kbits per second. Telecel Vodafone plans to launch the GPRS service for its Customers of prepaid services from this May onwards.

TelecelVodafone Customers can now access various services, namely WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) on GPRS – “Wap On line”, Internet access using a personal computer or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) in addition to electronic mail dispatch and reception.

As part of the marketing campaign that will continue until 31 July 2001, Customers of post-paid services can opt for unlimited access to WAP and the Telecel Vodafone Portal at a single monthly charge of 850 escudos (4.24 euros). Alternatively they can choose the pay-as-you-use scheme, which is priced at 7.5 escudos (0.04 euros) per access to information received on the WAP Portal. Internet and WAP access outside the Telecel Vodafone Portal will be charged depending on the volume of information transferred (both sent and received). Applicable prices are 1.5 escudos per KByte transferred in the case of Internet access and 2.5 escudos per KByte transferred in the case of WAP access outside the Telecel Vodafone Portal, with an initial fee of 30 escudos (0.15 euros), which already includes 20 and 12 KBytes, respectively.

Customers that subscribe until 31 July 2001 for unlimited access to the WAP of the Telecel Vodafone Portal are entitled to this same access condition – monthly charge of 850 escudos (4.24 euros) – until 31 December 2001.

The Motorola Timeport 260 mobile phone is available at 39,900 escudos (199.02 euros), including 5,000 escudos (24.94 euros) of free calls, Customers being able to choose from one of the following tariff plans: Pack Total 60 30 or higher, Pack Privado 240 or higher and Local, Normal or Mais plans. This product comes with a 24-month commitment to the Telecel Vodafone network. It is also available in Clube Viva for Telecel Vodafone Customers.

GPRS technology, launched by Telecel Vodafone in September, enables transmission of data through packets in accordance with IP protocols used on the Internet. This enables the Customer to be permanently on-line without being charged for a telephone call, allowing immediate notification whenever e-mail is received and paying only for the received and sent information. GPRS together with WAP will allow quicker and mobile access to Internet contents in addition to other valuable Customer services.