Need and potential benefit


   

The European mobile communications sector has been very successful notably through the development of the second generation. As the technology evolves from 2G to 2.5 (GPRS) and to 3G (UMTS) the scope of the services and applications that can be provided is significantly enlarged, to an extent which is not yet fully understood in terms of possibilities and potentialities.

The European Commission has stressed the need for concrete actions regarding the mobile communications sector, in light of the fact that the markets for 2.5 and 3G remain largely untested. While there are indications that the new mobile data services could rapidly generate strong market demand, it is vital for all sector actors to gain experience with new mobile value added services and applications.

It is vital for all business sectors and the European citizens to gain experience with new mobile value added services and applications. In ELBA, mobile services will be demonstrated in three large scale user scenarios in three different countries. Through successful demonstration and wide-scale dissemination and exploitation activities there will be a speed up of the diffusion and usage of innovative mobile services and applications and help to generate a strong market demand. The potential benefits of ELBA are:

• Demonstration of successful 2.5-3G services in the area of mobile marketing.

• Contribution to technological challenges in the mobile business area (integration, interoperability etc.).

• Demonstration of business opportunities to the European industry in the area of mobile services and applications.

• Contribution to user acceptance of innovative mobile services and applications.