With the company's recent radio space bid, it will obtain approximately 120 frequencies around the country T-Mobile USA Inc. is moving into 3G (third-generation) mobile services with Nokia Corp. and Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson as major equipment suppliers.The fourth-largest U.S. mobile operator is the last of the major operators to deploy 3G but secured a big chunk of radio spectrum in the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s AWS (Advanced Wireless Services) auction in September. It bid almost US$4.2 billion for 120 frequency licenses around the country.T-Mobile started rolling out its WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) network during this quarter and will continue it through 2007 and 2008, according to the company. In New York, the deployment is already half finished. Nokia will provide small, modular base stations called the Nokia Flexi WCDMA Base Station, making T-Mobile the first U.S. carrier to use them, Nokia said. The contract depends on T-Mobile completing its acquisition of the spectrum. WCDMA delivers an average downlink speed of about 400K bps (bits per second) and the Nokia Flexi base stations can be upgraded to support Nokia’s HSPA (High-Speed Packet Access) technology, according to Nokia spokeswoman Chantal Boeckman.HSPA includes both HSDPA (High-speed Downlink Packet Access) and HSUPA (High-speed Uplink Packet Access), with downlink speed as high as 14.4M bps and uplinks as fast as 5.8M bps, Nokia said. The company has already supplied HSPA gear to T-Mobile operators in Germany, the U.K. and the Netherlands. T-Mobile is a member of the T-Mobile International group, the mobile division of Germany’s Deutsche Telekom AG.Meanwhile, Ericsson has signed on as T-Mobile’s main radio provider in certain markets, including New York, and to provide services including network planning, installation and testing. That deal also relies on the carrier getting its new spectrum licenses. Technology IndustrySmall and Medium Business