(Casablanca, Morocco , June 3, 2009) Telecom operator Wana has broken new ground in the mobile industry by completing the world’s first trial of EV-DO Rev. B technology on a commercial network. The trial, which was conducted in collaboration with equipment supplier ZTE and Qualcomm, demonstrated the next generation of EV-DO technology in a fully mobile environment by delivering a download rate of 8.8 Mbps and an upload rate up of 5.36Mbps on the application layer. This technical achievement reflects Wana’s continued efforts to explore and drive new capabilities for its customers, and it represents the first step in Wana’s progression toward deployment of EV-DO Rev. B.　

EV-DO Rev. B enhances the user experience of 3G subscribers and provides higher data rates and lower latencies by aggregating multiple EV-DO Rev. A channels. The technology delivers data rates up to three-times those provided with today’s EV-DO Rev A networks (i.e. 9.3 Mbps on the downlink and 5.4 Mbps on the uplink), thereby improving users’ experiences in uploading and downloading large files, data-rich content, streaming videos, music and more. Additionally, lower latency support for EV-DO Rev. B will improve those users’ response time for data-intensive applications such as Web browsing.

 “Wana’s mobile broadband customers have come to enjoy some of the nation’s most advanced mobile services offered over our high-speed EV-DO Rev. A network,” said Fadhel Kraiem, CTO of Wana. “Our demonstration of EV-DO Rev. B is a natural progression in Wana’s commitment to provide customers with the best possible user experience for their CDMA2000-based services.”

Wana’s EV-DO Rev. B technology trial was supported by ZTE’s system infrastructure and Qualcomm’s test terminal.

“ZTE has been committed to constructing an advanced national CDMA network for Wana,” said Mr. Chang Xiaowei, Chief Representative of ZTE Morocco. “With a simple software update, ZTE can offer EV-DO Rev. B on Wana’s current EV-DO Rev. A network, increasing the data rate of Wana’s mobile broadband service significantly and further solidifying Wana’s leading position in Morocco’s 3G market.”

“EV-DO Rev. B capitalizes on the 3G CDMA evolutionary roadmap to provide faster data rates, increased capacity and support for next-generation rich content services that will enhance the mobile Internet experience for end-users,” said Jay Srage, vice president of business development for the Middle East , North Africa and Central Asia, Qualcomm, Qualcomm. “Wana is making great strides in helping to advance the market for mobile broadband and in delivering a next-generation mobile experience to its customers.”