Orange switches on HSDPA in UK

France Telecom’s mobile arm, Orange UK switched on its high speed HSDPA network this week, upgrading the download speeds for its 3G users.

Orange 3G is available to over 90 per cent of the UK outdoor population and the operator’s 3G+ is being initially concentrated on key commercial zones such Greater London and airports.

The service will be rolled out to the top five cities in the country during 2007.

Customers can access the upgraded network through a range of HSDPA-enabled devices including the Sierra Wireless 850, the Option 3G/EDGE card and the Fujitsu Lifebook E: Laptop with embedded 3G+.

3G+ enabled phones include the SPV M3100 and Motorazr maxx V6.

“Mobile broadband is designed to increase the productivity of our customers, wherever they happen to be working,” said Neil Laider, VP of Orange Business Services. “3G+ provides faster response times and enhances applications where bigger file downloads or faster data streaming is required. For example, a 3MB PowerPoint presentation will typically take just 34 seconds to download using Orange 3G+ compared with 20 minutes via GPRS. Customers with 3G+ enabled mobile office cards will notice these benefits as 3G+ is rolled out across the network,” he said.