Orange ramps up 3G services

Mobile operator Orange has announced plans to ramp up its 3G network across Scotland, Northern Ireland and North-East England.

As part of the upgrade to its network, Orange has promised that this will allow greater reliablility to voice and data services to more rural areas that often struggle to obtain decent mobile coverage.

The mobile operator aims to have 3G/HSDPA network speeds of up to 7.2Mbps in the top 30 UK cities and 2Mbps for 80 per cent of entire UK population.

Furthermore, it has promised to roll out a faster variant of 3G/HSDPA data service to support mobile broadband very soon and hopes to have 14.4Mbps network speeds in certain areas by the end of 2009.

"We are investing heavily to improve our network and this investment is one step closer to our goal of becoming the best UK network for coverage and reliability by 2009," said Peter Marsden, vice president of IT & Networks at Orange.

Performing the upgrade will entail the installation of over 450 new 2G and 3G sites over the next 12 months.

The company has said that there may be some downtime to its 3G service during the upgrade, but that customers will be informed in advance and that the 2G network will remain available.