The future for Go Mobile may lie in third-generation (3G) technology, but according to Dr Juanito Camilleri, there will be no "big bang". The market for these services will not happen instantly but will evolve.
"What we need to do is have our infrastructure there; start launching applications; help the market realise what they can do with the technology; exploit what we have to the limit; and project to the next step."
Dr Camilleri said Go Mobile has just negotiated upgrades for all its systems with Nortel, its network supplier. These, he pointed out, consist mostly of software upgrades but they are also configuration upgrades to incorporate Nortel's latest technologies and features in Go Mobile's network.
"So, despite our network being two years old, we are in the process of bringing it au courant as though we were buying it today. We have a programme of upgrades that we have started already. This has to be gradual because now we have a large operation and it is going to take us up to the second quarter of next year. We will then be very much state-of-the-art with the infrastructure that Nortel have in their portfolio."
The reason Go Mobile is always buying software, he explained, was to enable it "to keep its options open and remain as flexible as possible. Depending on the needs of the market and market opportunities as we perceive them, we will always have the option to work with state-of-the-art services.
"The worst thing that could happen is that something becomes a market opportunity and you realise that, to bring it across, not only do you have to buy some ancillary hardware or software that hooks onto your basic infrastructure, but you will find that you need to upgrade your infrastructure simply to meet that."
Go Mobile's latest launch is Snap&Go, a picture messaging service written in-house specifically for the Symbian operating system, common on Nokia phones. "We wrote it to be in a position to test what type of response there was in the local market for a form of multi-media messaging service (MMS) (which) is one of a whole range of potential services that can emerge in the future.
"If mobile applications related to MMS are going to be successful, it is very important that content is produced by the individuals participating. Many people in the past made the mistake that people are going to spend hours on a mobile phone, spending quite a premium, simply to watch or do things that they can do quite as well or easily and cheaper from other devices, possibly at home.
"Now, sometimes there are situations of need and emergency where it is justifiable and cost-effective to do just that also. However, the one thing we as mobile companies need to capitalise on is that we have devices in people's hands, which give mobility and we also want people to become the protagonists of the communication.
"Today when two people talk on a mobile phone it is they who are making the communication. They are generating the content. If they are sending SMSes to each other, they are they authors of the content. It is not I who is producing that content and that is why the communications works."
Within the next two to three years Dr Camilleri said, we are going to see a whole set of applications being launched. "But when I say 'just that' it means there is a lot of work in trying to exploit as much as possible platforms you already have and enhancing them judiciously and gradually until, one day, we will wake up and say: 'Hey, this is a 3G network after all.' But we have evolved into it.
"There is not going to be a big bang. It is going to be a constant rumble towards 3G. There are other technologies and other considerations to keep in mind. Many people think 3G equals UMTS. That's wrong. There are a lot of 3G applications that can be launched on other technologies. We also have to keep a very close eye on wireless LAN (local area networks) and how that will also affect our markets.
"There are a lot of interesting emerging technologies in that sphere and we want to keep our eyes on that technology too."