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BT tests cell Web access
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October 6, 1999: 8:56 a.m. ET
U.K. telecom, Microsoft team to provide wireless Internet service
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Microsoft and British Telecom have teamed up to offer a trial of wireless Internet access services, the companies said Wednesday, with a view to rolling out the service in 2000.
About 1,000 employees of five companies will test the new system, which will allow them to access data over their cellular phones. The data will include e-mail retrieval, calendar information and other data including content from Web sites. The Web site data will be customized for the small screens available on cellular phones.
Microsoft will provide the messaging platform and browser for the venture, which is a result of a technology pact the companies signed in January. Mobile phones for the trial will be supplied by France's Sagem and South Korea's Samsung.
BT's BT Cellnet unit is the second-largest cellular network provider in Britain, after Vodafone AirTouch (VOD).
The trial will provide feedback on how customers will use new mobile data services and lead to a "sizable commercial deployment expected early next year," the companies said.
BT estimates the fast-growing market for mobile data will be worth more than $80 billion annually by 2005.
The new technology will be tested by employees of British Broadcasting Corp., Credit Suisse First Boston, KPMG and Nortel Networks. Employees of Norwegian telecom company Telenor Mobile, a partner of BT, also will use the service. 
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