ESPOO, Finland, November 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Nokia and Mobitel Slovenia have signed a contract for Nokia's hosted Push to talk over Cellular (PoC) and Presence services. Nokia will integrate and host commercial, OMA (Open Mobile Alliance) compliant services for Mobitel Slovenia, thus enabling the operator to roll out the solution more quickly and with a reduced investment. Mobitel Slovenia will launch the services commercially on November 15th, 2006.

Push to talk service will enable Mobitel Slovenia's customers to communicate with groups or individuals at a simple push of a button, with no need to dial numbers. Nokia Presence solution adds a whole new dimension to push to talk by letting users check before making a PoC call whether the person they are calling is available and willing to communicate. Services' compliance with the OMA standard enables full interoperability with OMA-compliant terminals and networks from other vendors as well.

"Nokia's cost-efficient and high-quality hosted solution enables us to extend our portfolio of advanced business and consumer services in the Slovenian market," says Mitja Stular, PhD, Director of Technology Department, Mobitel Slovenia. "Nokia is our vendor of choice for hosting, because not only do they have a strong track record in providing end-to-end solutions and OMA-compliant push to talk solutions, but the quality of the service during our trial proved Nokia's capability to deliver and run a technically sound solution."

"Nokia Mobility Hosting allows operators to bring the new services to market faster and with lower risk as hosting requires lower investment than a conventional service launch," says Patrik Sallner, Head of Hosting Service Line, Networks, Nokia. "We are delighted to support Mobitel Slovenia in expanding their market opportunities with these new services."

The hosted PoC and Presence service trial with Mobitel Slovenia and the following deal mark Nokia's Networks business group an entry to the Slovenian market. The hosting and integration services will be provided from Nokia's recently launched hosting center in Austria.

Nokia Mobility Hosting, a part of Nokia's Managed Services offering, is one of the many tools that Nokia can offer operators to help grow their business and manage their costs in the face of ever-toughening competition and growing technological complexity. Nokia is a major player in the Managed Services business with close to 60 managed services contracts globally.

Nokia's end-to-end push to talk solution offers a full feature set, and is compliant with the OMA standard. Nokia Push to talk over Cellular is part of Nokia's IMS for fixed and mobile offering and compliant with 3GPP IMS standards. In addition to voice, the solution will be capable of supporting various push-to-media, such as video. With commercial contracts for 59 PoC service offerings, and several operator trials ongoing, Nokia is leading the market for Push to talk over Cellular in GSM.

About Mobitel Slovenia

Mobitel is the leading Slovenian mobile communications operator and one of the most technologically advanced mobile operators in the world. Mobitel offers various state-of-the-art services and provides a wide range of services using advanced generations of mobile telecommunications GSM 900/1800, GPRS, WLAN, UMTS and HSDPA.

About Nokia

Nokia is a world leader in mobile communications, driving the growth and sustainability of the broader mobility industry. Nokia connects people to each other and the information that matters to them with easy-to-use and innovative products like mobile phones, devices and solutions for imaging, games, media and businesses. Nokia provides equipment, solutions and services for network operators and corporations.

http://www.nokia.com/

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