Nokia to supply Push to talk and Presence to Etisalat in the UAE

Nokia also provides the Nokia Presence solution, which is based on open standards and provides support to PoC, as well as to many other applications. The Nokia Presence solution adds a whole new dimension to staying in touch by letting mobile subscribers know how and when they can reach their family, friends, or colleagues -- before making a call.

With push to talk, people can use their mobile phones like walkie-talkies, communicating with a selected group or with individuals at the push of a button. Both business and private users can benefit from this simple, direct communication. Push to talk is especially suited for cases where users need to communicate occasionally but repeatedly with the same group or individual.

"Our successful cooperation with Nokia coupled with its market-leading push to talk solution made Nokia the obvious choice in deploying this attractive new service in the UAE," said H.E. Mohammed Hassan Omran, CEO, Etisalat.

"Nokia fully supports the vision of Etisalat's management and the successful steps already taken to transform Etisalat into a global player that provides state-of-the-art telecommunications services to its domestic, regional and international customers," says Dr. Walid Moneimne, Senior Vice President, EMEA region, Nokia Networks. "This deal will establish a win-win relationship and provide a great opportunity for our teams to work closely while realising Etisalat's international ambitions."

Nokia's end-to-end push to talk solution offers a full feature set, and it will be compliant with the upcoming OMA standard. Nokia's solution is compatible with the IP multimedia subsystem as standardized in 3GPP, and it will be capable of supporting various push-to-media, such as video. With 39 commercial contracts with GSM operators, and more than 30 operator trials ongoing, Nokia is leading the market for Push to talk over Cellular in GSM. There are 19 Nokia GSM PoC handsets available in the UAE.