DSTCom to launch GPRS services soon
By Azaraimy HH 

After months of testing, DSTCom will be announcing the launching of GPRS services sometime this June. Now is the time for subscribers to grab hold of mobile phones that support GPRS. GPRS, which stands for Global Packet Radio Service, facilitates such things like WAP information services.

Though DSTCom has confirmed for the provision of the added service, they have given out "very limited" information on it. They will, however, be announcing more details on the service within the next few days.

DSTCom will be offering GPRS services to both its Prima and Easi mobile line subscribers for "an extra fee".

Dubbed as "one of the killer applications" of GPRS technology, MMS (Multimedia Messaging Services) is expected to be a hit in Brunei Darussalam.

Multimedia Messaging Services, as the name suggests, according to DSTCom and Infocomm, will allow subscribers to send messages - a compilation of text, sound, images (animation) and even video.

To be able to make full use of GPRS, subscribers will need a mobile phone that supports GPRS. However, phones that support GPRS are, for now, much more expensive than "normal" ones.

One of the current "hot" phones that supports GPRS on the market now is the Titanium Cased Nokia 8910i priced at around $1200. Other GPRS-enabled phones are the Nokia 7250 and 6100 models, priced at around $790 and $680 respectively.

One of the most affordable GPRS-enabled mobile phones in the country is the Sony Ericsson T68i priced at around $568. The most "highly recommended" GPRS phone on the local market, according to several vendors, is the Nokia 8910i. It is equipped with WAP 1.2.1 GPRS and a built-in bluetooth wireless technology for freedom in communication.

GPRS will have useful facilities such as instant connections whereby information can be sent or received immediately whenever the need arises. No dial-up modem connection will be required.

This is why GPRS users are sometimes referred to as being "always connected". Immediacy is one of the advantages of GPRS.

Another plus side to the introduction of GPRS in the country is that it would pave the way for other new services (applications) that may have not been available in the past due to "limitations". These applications range from web browsing to file transfer to home-automation.

Home automation is the ability to remotely access and control in-house appliances and machines. This could be a distant case in the Sultanate but goes to say the countless applications of GPRS in the future.

Meanwhile, DSTCom is currently developing the nation's second broadband Internet services. Subscribers will no longer have to rely on "normal" telephone lines to gain access to the Internet, it was learnt.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin