In an effort to gain subscriber attention, 3UK has outlined plans to provide customers in London and other major metropolitan areas access to mobile broadband speeds up to 14.4Mbps by Q3/2010. As an interim, the company has hinted speeds of up to 7.2Mbps could become available to 98 per cent of the UK population by mid-next year.
The company, which has gambled its reputation on its 3G capabilities, claims it has already completed a rollout to give more than 95 per cent of the UK's population access to 3.6Mbps using HSDPA. However, the company was unable to confirm when customers living in more rural areas would have access to these speeds.
It would appear the push to provide higher speeds in more areas is part of the company's strategy to broaden the use of 3G services helped by lower-cost handsets. "We need handsets at a price point that enable us to open that market up", said Kevin Russell, CEO of 3 UK. This was illustrated by the company's announcement of the new INQ handset last week that is tailored for use with the social networking site Facebook and Windows live, etc.
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