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3 goes high speed with HSDPA network
And finally takes wraps off data cards and Skype deal

By Jo Best

Published: Tuesday 14 March 2006

3 has finished off the UK's HSDPA roster with the announcement it is to roll out a high speed third-generation network.

The third-generation operator, which recently celebrated its third birthday, has revealed it has completed trials of the super fast 3G technology HSDPA (which stands for 'high speed downlink packet access').

3 has been testing the technology, also known as 3.5G, for four months around Maidenhead and has found users are getting downlink speeds of around 1.4Mbps. The trial will be extended in May and HSDPA connectivity will be rolled out to all 3's customers from the second half of the year.

O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone have already committed to trials or full scale rollouts of HSDPA.

A spokeswoman for 3 said the rollout will enable the network to launch new services as well as enhance speeds of existing ones.

3 has also announced its own data card, which it claims has the best 3G coverage around at 88 per cent of the population. The data card will cost between £39.99 and £119.99, dependant on which data bundle the hardware is bought with. Monthly data bundles are priced between £20 and £45.

The third-generation network provider has signed a deal with Skype which will see the pair co-market each other's services.