O2 upgrades to EDGE in preparation for Iphone

BRITISH CELLULAR provider, O2 is updating its infrastructure from GPRS to EDGE in preparation for Iphone deployment, the INQ has discovered.

Just a few days ago, we wrote how upgrading hardware from the slower data standard was a doddle - merely requiring a simple software up grade to existing base stations.

Well, now it seems that is exactly what is going on. An O2 employee posted a screenshot from the company's intranet on the popular Mac Rumors forum, in which an email missive from Sylvia Sissons (who describes herself as a Customer Experience & Operations Manager at the company, and is looking for a new job, according to her profile) decrees to O2 employees that an EDGE upgrade is already underway.

The new EDGE technology will "work on a wide range of most modern phones, Data Cards and USB Modems as well as BlackBerry handhelds and O2's Xda range", according to the email. Of course, the obvious omission there is the Apple Iphone, which requires EDGE for its data access.

O2 has long been rumoured to have scored the contract to distribute the Iphone in the UK, but so far there has been no official announcement. This is about as close to a confirmation as it gets, we suspect - why would O2 bother upgrading to EDGE now after many years of not requiring it?

Stay tuned, then, for an official announcement. µ