High-speed access continues to grow as two major European carriers have announced the availability of 3G UMTS networks, Orange in the UK and o2 in Germany.
In separate announcements, both Orange and o2 Germany have announced operational 3G networks, both based on the UMTS standard with GPRS fallback capability.
UK carrier Orange has stated will begin selling a PC Card plugin for laptops on 19 July. The card will allow laptop users to access the Internet at 384 kbps, far faster than conventional GPRS connections. Orange estimates its coverage at 66% of the UK to start off, but plans to grow that to 80% next year. Orange also has roaming deals with 3G carriers in Spain, Italy, and Germany. Although for the moment there will be support only for laptop cards, Orange has also signed deals with Sony Ericsson and LG to supply it with 3G phone handsets, which should go on sale this fall. The card will cost 10 GBP per month with a 170 GBP setup fee, or 75 GBP with 85 GBP setup fee for unlimited use.
Meanwhile, o2 Germany has launched its own UMTS network, and teamed up with T-Mobile to provide wider coverage through roaming. Available now, pricing was not available on o2 Germany's UMTS services.
UMTS is the marketing name for 3G networks based on the WCDMA standard, more popular in Europe for the next generation wireless network than the American-favored cdma2000. With speeds rated up t 384 kbps, UMTS is nearly ten times as fast as conventional GPRS data services and 5 times faster than landline dialup services, and generally includes fallback capability to 2.5G GPRS networks in case a user goes outside a 3G coverage area. Earlier this year, Vodafone announced its own UMTS network in covering several European countries.
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