We must win 3G war, says Hewlett Packard chief

Date: 08/03/01

By Peter Chapman

THE European chief executive of US IT-giant Hewlett Packard says the Union must boost investment in the flagging mobile sector or risk losing the technology race to overseas rivals.

Bernard de Valence argues it is too late for Europe to pull out of its huge investment in third generation (3G) mobile services despite the drop in confidence in the sector as experts downgrade likely demand and operators pay billions of euro for licences.

Instead, he claims, the continent should turn this costly effort to its advantage and build on its current lead over the rest of the world. This can be achieved by widening the scope of mobile services beyond smart new 'personal digital assistants' and phones.

"The next generation mobile is expensive - and so people will want to use it," said de Valence. "Economics should help us. Now that we have made the commitment, let's not stop half way."

He adds this could lead to the development of other products linked to the Internet via mobile networks - from wireless printers that can download articles from the Web to connected medical devices that can test a patient's blood automatically.

The Hewlett Packard chief says he has spoken with Information Society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen in a bid to ensure 'mobility' issues are a priority for the Union's multi-billion-euro sixth framework Research & Development programme, which gets under way next year.

"I want him to realise that we can cooperate with the Commission and other parts of industry to make sure that we widen the gap," said de Valence. "If we are not careful we are going to give the opportunity to North America or Asia to catch up."

The comments, made at a top-level Commission conference on the 'e-economy', came as some telecoms and technology stocks in Europe, such as Finland's Nokia, began to rally following a two-month slump.

The European chief executive of US IT giant Hewlett Packard says the Union must boost investment in the flagging mobile sector or risk losing the technology race to overseas rivals.