Vodafone hints at multi-million euro mobile network expansion

Hungarian mobile operator Vodafone Hungary is looking to invest a ‘nine-digit euro’ sum in its networks, MTI Econews quotes the firm’s chief executive Gyorgy Beck as saying. The capital expenditure programme would involve the build out of a 4G mobile network, using elements of the existing 2G/3G infrastructure, as well as the deployment of 400 new base transceiver stations (BTS). Once completed, the cellco’s mobile broadband capabilities will be available to 99% of the population and speeds will double, he said. The cellco’s UK parent Vodafone Group is bankrolling the investment, with equipment set to be supplied by China’s Huawei Technologies. Vodafone’s high speed mobile internet is currently available to about 60% of Magyars, he said, although demand for the service is rising on the back of a surge in popularity for smartphones and portable computing.