Europe / ASIA : Pantech announced that it has signed a landmark agreement with Orange - the second biggest mobile service carrier in Europe, - to supply branded UMTS phones in France.

The agreement with Orange, which is also the largest mobile service carrier in France, with around 23 million subscribers, marks Pantech’s first partnership with a Europe-based global mobile operator.

The new product which will be made available through Orange, - the U4000 - is a modern and stylish UMTS phone. It features a video telephony function incorporating a 1.3 mega pixel camera and VGA camera, a 1.9 inch 260,000 color TFT and 72 polyphonic ringtones. Other features include Bluetooth, a Micro SD card slot and an MP3 player.

Dennis Cheong, President, Pantech Europe, said: “This major partnership with Orange is an outstanding testament to the quality of Pantech’s advanced mobile handset technologies. More significantly, the agreement demonstrates our ongoing commitment to meet and exceed the expectations of our customers in Europe.”

“By supplying handsets through this deal with one of Europe’s most prestigious operators, we can build our position in the market and support the development of our brand in France and beyond. In turn, this will help us move closer to achieving our goal of positioning ourselves as a leading mobile handset manufacturer in the European handset market,” said Mr. Cheong.

Céline Thomas, Head of Product Marketing, Orange France, said: “We are happy to extend our supplier portfolio with Pantech’s U4000, a product compatible with key services of Orange such as TV Live, Music download and video telephony.”

With the signing of this deal, Pantech now provides its phones to all the three biggest carriers in France, having secured agreements with SFR and Bouygues Telecom earlier this year. Pantech Group plans to accelerate its business in France, with the aim of becoming one of the top five mobile phone brands in France by the end of 2008.
U4000 features include:
? Network: Tri-band / UMTS
? Size & weight: 95 x 43 x 16.5 mm, 90g
? Display: 1.9” 260K TFT (size: 176 x 220 pixels)
? Camera: 1.3 Mega pixel + VGA dual camera72 polyphonic & MP3 ringtonesMemory: 30MB of user memory (+ Micro SD card slot provided)
? Video telephony / Bluetooth
? MPEG4, H.263, H.264
? WAP 2.0, JAVA MIDP 2.0, DRM 1.0

Pantech&Curitel Communications is one of Korea’s top three mobile handset makers and is the seventh largest handset manufacturer in the world. Pantech has been responsible for a number of breakthrough innovations in the mobile technology sector, including the introduction in 2004 of the world's first fingerprint recognition camera phone, as well as award winning camcorder, MP3 and DMB phones.

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