Thanks to spectrum gained in the $41 billion acquisition, Cingular said it will build a third-generation (define) network in several U.S. markets, starting next year.

The nation's largest mobile carrier didn't specify which cities would be first, saying only that it expects to offer 3G services to consumers and businesses in most major markets by the end of 2006.

The Atlanta-based carrier tapped Ericsson, Lucent and Siemens to develop and install infrastructure for the system.

Cingular also hired Nokia (to upgrade its existing network and possibly support the deployment of its new network. And it lined up Nokia , Motorola and LG for new feature-rich handsets by the fourth quarter of 2005.

Neither Cingular, nor its vendors, will disclose financial terms, but the rollout is clearly a significant undertaking.

The 3G deployment, based on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) with High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) systems, will enable Internet, audio and video streaming, digital image display and capture and multiplayer gaming.

According to Lucent, the technology lets customers have simultaneous voice and data sessions. HSDPA is a standardized upgrade of UMTS (also known as Wideband-CDMA) developed by the industry group 3G Partnership Project (3GPP).