Vodafone announces 2007 launch of W-CDMA/HSDPA services

The chief executive of Vodafone Hungary, Gyorgy Beck, says the firm plans to launch 3G and High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) services in 2007, and will invest USD100 million over the course of this year to support the deployment. Vodafone, formerly Oskar, is the smallest of the country’s three mobile operators. It plans to boost coverage of its 3G network to 30% of the population by the end of the year, a significant increase on the current coverage of just Budapest and its immediate environs. ‘We’d like to see our market share expand but this is a highly penetrated market and competition is extremely tight,’ Beck said. According to Telegeography’s GlobalComms database, Hungary’s mobile penetration rate stood at 96.3% at the end of 2006 with T-Mobile Hungary controlling 45.6% of the 9.72 million-strong market, ahead of Pannon (32.45%) and Vodafone (21.95%).