Samsung Connects the Vodafone Way in Europe

In a multi-firm venture to provide faster cell phone services in Europe Samsung Electronics the world's third-largest maker of handsets will join hands with global telecommunications Vodafone, the world's largest mobile phone service provider and Qualcomm to overpower the European HSDPA market.

The technology, known as HSDPA (high speed downlink packet access technology), allows high speed data transmission over mobile networks. It can transmit audio and video data seven times faster than the current third-generation standard, wideband code-division multiple access, also known as WCDMA. Samsung said users will be able to conduct video conferences and download a feature-length film in less than two minutes

Samsung will manufacture handsets, and Vodafone, which boasts more than 170 million subscribers in 27 nations, will provide the service. Qualcomm, based in the United States, will supply semiconductors for the phones. The financial details of the partnership were not disclosed.

Samsung is currently developing the first commercially available HSDPA phone to be launched exclusively for Vodafone," the South Korean firm said.

Samsung is a major mobile phone provider for Vodafone. Samsung is currently discussing selling mobile phones to Vodafone K.K., the Japanese unit of Vodafone Group.

Shares in Samsung ended 0.15 percent lower at 661,000 won on Wednesday, compared with the wider market's 0.39 percent fall

Earlier, Cingular, the largest cell phone service provider in the United States, became the world's first company to provide high-speed downlink services this month, initially targeting laptop computer users.

Cingular said that it planned to expand the network next year.

"The fact that Vodafone chose us over other cell-phone makers," said Lee Ki-tae, president of Samsung's mobile phone division, "proves the high quality of our technology in next-generation cell phone protocol."

Peter Bamford, chief marketing officer at Vodafone, said the partnership with Samsung would help Vodaphone provide good service on quality phones.