Coverage from 3GSM Cannes 2005

14 - 17 February 2005

GSM Show Daily Tuesday 15 February 'A New Approach'

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O2 Press Release

15th February 2005

Newbury, UK: O2 Chooses Arieso For Best 3G Network Performance

O2 Chooses Arieso For Best 3G Network Performance Market leading UK mobile operator O2 is to utilise the unique technology of network optimisation specialists Arieso to provide subscribers the best possible service for the forthcoming O2 3G network.O2, the UK’s most successful mobile communications network*, has signed a major deal with UK-based Arieso to implement its market leading network optimisation product, ‘Altaro’ across the O2 3G network area. Following extensive competitive trials, Arieso’s product Altaro was found to be consistently and by far the top performer. For O2, as for the other 3G operators trialling the product, Altaro automatically produces the optimal network configuration - the best combination of power levels, antenna type, direction and tilt producing the best possible coverage, capacity and quality of service for minimum cost. David Williams, group CTO, O2 said: “O2 customers expect the best. Arieso is an innovative company whose powerful product and service proposition has enabled us to get the best from our 3G network. Altaro has given us unprecedented results in the field, doubling our network coverage and other quality metrics while halving our rollout time. The Altaro product has delivered on its promises and the results it has achieved have impressed us – it’s next generation technology designed to maximise the next generation networks.”

Shirin Dehghan, CEO of Arieso, said, “Altaro’s superior performance has proved that Arieso’s intelligent optimisation technology enhances network performance while accelerating operators’ return on investment in 3G technology. We are delighted to be the O2 partner of choice for 3G network optimisation.” Altaro’s unique algorithm-based approach ensures the best possible network performance, giving the operator the power to input constraints at an individual site or sector level and extract the optimal network configuration while considering a mix of services and quality metrics. This is an essential requirement for operators looking to exploit the full multimedia capability from their 3G networks while ensuring their customers experience seamless service, irrespective of whether the traffic is voice, data or video. In operator trials**, Arieso has proved its ability to generate network savings of around £300 million from a ‘typical’ 3G network. Optimising existing networks can result in improvements of over 30% in network coverage and capacity, and also a reduction in the number of dropped calls. O2 UK field results have shown a doubling of coverage with major improvements in other quality metrics.

About O2
O2 aims to enrich customer's lives by enabling them to get the most from their mobile. As a leading provider of mobile services to consumers and businesses in the UK, O2 offers a range of services including text, media messaging, games, always on data connections (via "GPRS"), music over mobile, mobile video and much more. O2 is the UK market leader in mobile data services such as text, with over half a billion messages being sent by O2 customers each month. O2 has approximately 13 million customers in the UK.

About Arieso
Arieso is a world-leading developer of unique, automatic network optimisation software, which is set to deliver significant cost-savings to the operator community as well as a vastly improved mobile user experience. Founded by an expert team of technologists and industry professionals, the company’s Altaro software uses a unique simulator-based approach that delivers optimal 3G networks. Arieso, whose customers include O2 and Vodafone, is based in Newbury, Berkshire, UK.

For further information, please visit www.arieso.com

Notes to editors
*O2 achieved an overall national call success rate of 99.2% for the period April 2003 to September 2003. This figure is the highest ever published in the twiceyearly Mobile Network Operators Call Success Rate Survey.
**Network trials conducted by Arieso.