Orange has confirmed that it is to launch GPRS services this summer.
The company joins Vodafone and BT Cellnet in having announced the rollout of the next-generation mobile technology.
Presenting its annual results, the company also pointed to the rapid growth in non-voice services, which augurs well for GPRS takeup. Orange says that it is on target to generate 25% of its revenues through data services by 2005.
A total of 373 million SMS text messages were carried in January this year on the Orange Group’s UK and French networks, this figure having increased by 86% over the last six months. Surprisingly for those who have knocked Wap as a non-event, the company also counted almost 700,000 WAP users at the end of December 2000 in the two countries, almost 400 percent more than at the end of the third quarter of that year.