TMN in Portugal extends partnership with Birdstep Technology

Birdstep Technology ASA, the leading provider of seamless connectivity and mobility software for laptop, PDAs and smartphones, today announced further engagement to upgrade the TMN’s ease-of-connectivity client offering with added support to additional data cards. The upgraded solution for TMN will offer coverage of the GPRS, UMTS, HSDPA and WLAN networks with PC cards. The deployment is scheduled to be nationwide. The solution will provide one consistent, branded interface that works with PC cards available to the subscriber from several card manufacturers such as Option, Novatel and Nokia. It is based on the one-click patented software that allows users to quickly and easily configure their mobile devices to access data services provided by TMN across their available wireless technologies. - Birdstep Technology brings experience in easy to use connectivity client solutions that make them the natural partner for our evolving data connectivity solutions, said Eduardo Cláudio from TMN. Birdstep has, through the experience of more than 30 operator deployments, the expertise needed to provide the best ease-of-connectivity client in the market. Birdstep was created to serve the mobile market with software products and services that fully integrate any computing device into a complete mobile offering. For almost 5 years our software solutions have been used and enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of enterprise users all over the world. It has given Birdstep the leading technical and commercial experience necessary to guide our customers to successful market launch. - Our engagement with TMN is more than just a vendor of a solution; we aim to be an engaged sparring partner that can assist TMN to bring the best solution possible to their customers, said Petri Markkanen, CEO from Birdstep Technology. Birdstep Technology ASA is a public company listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange (OSE) under ticker ’BIRD’. The company is headquartered in Oslo, Norway with three wholly owned subsidiaries, Birdstep AB in Sweden, Birdstep Technology Inc. in Seattle, US and Birdstep Technology Ltd in Cambridge, UK. Birdstep Technology is a global software development, marketing and sales company offering seamless connectivity and mobility client software for mobile data users on laptops, pocket PC and Smartphones as well as state of the art embedded database technologies. Birdstep has an installed base at more than 30 operators globally including T-mobile Group, Vodafone Group, Orange, TIM, Turkcell, TMN, Sprint, Telenor and TeliaSonera. The company also cooperates with global partners such as Nokia, SonyEricsson, Cisco, Ericsson, Nortel Networks, HP and Fujitsu Siemens Computers. In addition, Birdstep offers “SmartRoaming”, a hosted roaming service that provides mobility across networks for service providers and mobile network operators. About TMN Created in March 1991, TMN is a subsidiary of the Portugal Telecom Group and the leading mobile telecommunications provider in Portugal, with 5 million plus subscribers, in a ten million market. Investing in the ongoing diversification of solutions tailored to individual and professional needs, TMN makes technological innovation and orientation towards the client drive its overall activity, supported by constant investments to strengthen the network coverage and the quality of service. TMN has a history of leading the mobile market in Portugal with attractive, advanced services. In April 2004, TMN made history when it became the first operator to launch video call mobile service within the Portuguese market, simultaneously becoming the 3rd operator to launch this service in Europe. To date, TMN has launched a set of innovative 3G services, such as video-calling, video-mail, video-portal, video-call-centre and video-sharing in the Portuguese market. In terms of the corporate data segment, TMN provides an Out Mail service to its customers, as well as the only integrated price plan in the Portuguese market that bundles GPRS/UMTS/HSDPA and Wi-Fi technologies. Constant investments to strengthen the network coverage and the quality of service made TMN become the first mobile telecommunications provider in Portugal to obtain ISO 9001 certification, and later the ISO 14001, having recently received the GSM Association Award for Best Network Quality Initiative.