Ericsson upgrades Chile's largest D-AMPS wireless phone network for Digital Personal Communication Services - PCS.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 23, 1997--Startel, Chile's largest wireless network operator, has launched digital Personal Communication Services (PCS) based on the latest IS-136 D-AMPS wireless standard. Since the signing of the contract in June '96, Startel has invested $97 million in the project undertaken by Ericsson to upgrade and expand Startel's existing analog 800 MHz AMPS network.

Startel currently has over 210,000 subscribers. The new digital services are being introduced initially in Santiago, and will later be extended across the entire national network as the digitization process continues. The company expects digital subscribers to account for over ten per cent of its subscriber base by the end of 1997.

With Personal Communication Services, users will be able to use their mobile phones as home phones, office phones and mobile phones, all within the same wireless network. Dual-mode D-AMPS/AMPS portable phones will allow digital users to access services via digital or analog radio channels.

Digitization of the network will allow new services to be introduced in Chile. These include wireless office services for businesses, Short Messaging Services (SMS) of up to 192 characters, voice mail, e-mail and Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD). The wireless office solution allows a standard IS-136 mobile phone to become a wireless extension to the company PBX, regardless of where the users is, in the office, car or at home.

Users will also be able to benefit from other features of the IS-136 D-AMPS standard, such as the 'sleep mode' of operation, which significantly extends the mobile phone usage time between battery recharges.

As part of the network digitization, Ericsson is installing a hierarchical cell structure with macro, micro and pico base stations from the company's new RBS 884 family. Macro cells provide large-scale regional coverage; micro cells provide coverage of, for example, a single street in a densely populated urban area. Ericsson will also install pico base stations for coverage of individual floors of a multi-storey office or residential building.

This hierarchical cell structure is a sophisticated way of adding coverage where is it needed thus enabling virtually unlimited capacity in the network. It also allows a range of location-based services to be offered,with different services available to subscribers depending on where they are.

"Personal Communication Services is a service concept and is not frequency related" said Andy Geisse, President of Startel. "We are introducing PCS services on the 800 MHz frequency band and are migrating our existing analog AMPS network to digital. We have achieved this very quickly and economically. In addition, it has allowed us to digitize parts of the network to meet specific demands in urban areas, while allowing us to plan for full nationwide coverage."

Currently there are over 74 million subscribers using D-AMPS/AMPS networks worldwide. Over 5 million of these subscribers are already using D-AMPS and all analog AMPS systems have the potential of migrating to digital D-AMPS in the future. Ericsson's networks support over 25 million of these D-AMPS/AMPS subscribers worldwide.

Ericsson's 90,000 employees are active in more than 130 countries. Their combined expertise in fixed and mobile networks, mobile phones and infocom systems makes Ericsson the world-leading supplier in telecommunications.

CONTACT: Ericsson

Kathy Egan

Lars Jonsteg

212/685-4030