Nokia launches first UMA pilot over WLAN

The world’s largest mobile manufacturer, Nokia, has begun testing the performance of its fixed-mobile convergence technologies, using the 6136 handset and UMA over WLAN.

The company has fifty families in its native Finland, testing the technology over the next two months, it said on Thursday.

The company chose Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) because users are able to roam between LANs and WANs using a single device. Transfer from one network to another (either GSM, GPRS or UMTS), should, theoretically, be seamless. The handsets are able to make calls over the internet using wifi, the company said.

“UMA technology truly brings simplicity in the usage of voice over IP,” says Peter Ropke, senior vice president, mobile phones R&D at Nokia. “This pilot project is an important step forward in bringing functional UMA technology to the mass market. Both operators and consumers will be able to garner the benefits of this new technology.”

Nokia chose the city of Oulu’s, partly because of the Pan Oulu project, which gives free internet access via WLAN hotspots around the city. The company believes the city is ideal as it will put the technology through its paces in the volatile WLAN environment.