Ericsson customer implements frequency hopping in commercial network in the United Kingdom.

RICHARDSON, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 7, 1995--Ericsson announced today that Mercury One-to-One has successfully introduced frequency hopping into its GSM-based, DCS1800 system in the United Kingdom.

"In GSM-based systems, frequency hopping increases the capacity of the system and reduces both infrastructure and operating costs," says Bo Piekarski, vice president of PCS, Ericsson Inc., Radio Systems. "It also improves the voice quality."

In systems that have not implemented frequency hopping, calls are assigned to a designated radio channel within a cell. One of the primary factors for defining cell size is based on the minimum allowable signal strength that will assure quality service. Using frequency hopping, cells that have two or more radio channels can alternate the call between the radio channels up to 217 times per second. This allows operators to average the strength of all the radio channels within a cell and configure the cell based on the average signal strength which is always greater than the minimum.

The stronger signal strength provided by frequency hopping allows operators to increase the capacity within the cell. By increasing capacity within existing cells, operators will be able to substantially improve the overall capacity of the system without adding more cells. This results in less infrastructure equipment and lower operating costs.

Ericsson's 75,000 employees are active in more than 100 countries. Their combined expertise in switching, radio and networking makes Ericsson a world leader in telecommunications.

CONTACT: Ericsson

Kathy Egan or Lars Jonsteg, 212/685-4030