French operator SFR, the second largest mobile telecommunications operator in France, has launched its High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) network in Paris and Southern France, using Nokia’s HSDPA solution.

“We are committed to introducing broadband mobile data services to our customers. They will benefit from download data speeds up to 4 times faster than current speeds available, offering for the first time a mobile experience similar to current standard DSL rates,” says Paul Corbel, CTO, SFR. “We are very satisfied with Nokia’s HSDPA solution and their support in enabling us to launch our HSDPA service in Paris and Southern France”.

Nokia has delivered the HSDPA solution to SFR as part of a radio network contract extended in May 2006. Nokia uses it’s unique, multivendor Nokia NetAct network to ensure the quality of service for HSDPA and has provided managed services, consulting and integration services from its business solutions portfolio.

Nokia’s high-performing HSDPA is a simple software upgrade to Nokia WCDMA networks, thus enabling cost-effective and fast rollout. In the first phase, Nokia HSDPA offers up to four times faster data services than current 3G, and consequently enhanced quality of service experience.

SFR has two major shareholders, Vivendi (56%) and Vodafone (44%).