Ericsson's demonstration shows standards-compliant video telephony operating between two test phones running on the 64-kbit/second circuit switch bearer to deliver 15 video frames per second. Further, it also shows video streaming on the 384-kbit/s packet data bearer. "We are using standard-compliant protocols and bearers. No special tricks are involved," Wingren said.

There are "real challenges" to running video telephony in a mobile environment where "users are not standing still but moving about," Wingren said. Stable handshaking and handover of video calls and suitable error corrections are essential in "robust, high-quality" mobile video calls, he said.

Using video-enabled dual-mode handsets, Ericsson will publicly demonstrate full video telephony next week at the 3GSM World Congress in Cannes, France.

Wingren predicted that video telephony-enabled handsets will start to emerge in Europe "this summer," creating a high-volume market.

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