The launch follows a two-month trial of the network involving some 2,000 participants. "The feedback from trialists has generally been very positive and we are confident of giving Singaporeans a new quality of service at a square deal price," said Mr Neil Montefiore, Chief Executive Officer of M1.

M1's CDMA 1900 MHz network will be the first in the world outside the American continent to be operational. It will be branded and marketed as M1 Chat in Singapore with the tagline, CDMA - Clearly Yours.

To make it simple and convenient for customers, only one tariff plan, the Chat 188 Plan, will be introduced. Under Plan 188, monthly subscription is $18 and call charges are 18 cents (peak) and 8 cents (off-peak). Eight dollars worth of free local airtime per month, the equivalent of up to 100 minutes, comes with the plan. Also provided free are Call Forwarding and Call Waiting services.

Optional services such as Caller Number Display, Call Number Non-display, Number Retention, Internet SMS and Email Alert will be charged at M1's normal rates. Another service available to CDMA customers is VoiceMail with Digital Paging.

M1 Chat customers will also enjoy the same benefits extended to M1's GSM customers such as much longer off-peak hours (22 hours more per week), first 10 seconds of incoming calls free and a 24-hour customer service hotline.

"We see M1 Chat as a no frills service for the mass market. Its very affordable rates will suit the pocket of anyone who needs a phone for work or social purposes, from young adults to housewives to the self-employed. Besides the low charges, they can exp erience excellent voice quality which is really a hallmark of the CDMA technology, the technology of the future," said Mr Montefiore.

"M1 Chat is also ideal for those who already have a GSM phone for business and who wish to have a second phone which is economical to maintain to keep in touch with friends and members of the family. Organisations which need to equip their technicians, de livery staff and others at this level with handphones will find M1 Chat a perfect mobile solution," he added.

Three models of handsets will be available to support the launch. The Sony CM-Z100 and Samsung SCH-1900 will be retailed at special promotional prices of $398 and $368 respectively. The Qualcomm Q-1900 will be available from mid-June at a promotional pric e of $698.

Participants of the network trial who wish to sign up for the service will get to keep their handphones without having to pay more than what they have already paid as deposits for the trial. The deposits they paid were $450 (Qualcomm), $300 (Sony) and $20 0 (Samsung). In addition, they will receive free subscription and free local airtime in July.

All M1 Chat customers will also receive a free video compact disc of "Forever Fever", the much-publicised new film by Glenn Goei, while stocks last. This limited edition VCD containing sound tracks and scenes from the film is exclusive to M1 and will not be available anywhere else.

M1 Chat phones and service subscriptions will be available from all six M1 shops and selected distributor outlets from Monday, 1 June.

Additional information on CDMA

What is CDMA?

CDMA stands for Code Division Multiple Access, a US digital cellular system. It uses a technology called the Spread Spectrum that allows a wide frequency band of 1.25 MHz to be shared among many callers. The conversation of each caller is set apart from t he others by a unique code. This allows callers to use the same frequency. The frequency spectrum is therefore more fully utilised.

What does CDMA offer?

The most important benefit of CDMA is improved voice clarity. The wide frequency band of CDMA is shared by a number of callers whose voices are each assigned a unique code. When transmitted to their respective destinations, these codes will be decoded an d turned back into the original voices. This coding technique has strong resistance to noise and interference that enhances voice clarity and provides better in-building penetration.

What are the reasons for M1 having two networks?

GSM is an established and mature digital technology which will have a limited capacity in the future. CDMA is a new and innovative network with a greater capacity which can be made available to the mass market. With mobile communications fast becoming the primary means of communications for Singaporeans, this capacity will serve to cater to the high growth in demand in the mobile communications market.

We also want to offer our customers a choice of technology that best suits them. As a company committed to offering the best services for its customers, we want to be the first to bring the benefits of the latest technology with enhanced features to our customers.