A 3G Christmas for Vodafone

August 7, 2005

Vodafone believes that by Christmas 3G handsets will be at the top of consumers' most wanted list. Company chief executive Arun Sarin said, "Frankly I think it is going to be a 3G Christmas this year."

Vodafone has around 3.3 million 3G customers globally and Sarin expects things to pick-up in the run-up to Christmas as the service continues to improve and handset prices begin to fall.

He admitted that consumers in the UK, with around 282,000 Vodafone 3G subscribers, were still reluctant to pay for 3G services. Vodafone plans to introduce mobile TV in the UK in the next few months.

Despite Vodafone's optimism of 3G for this year, other operators still believe 3G will not take off until next year. Large handsets and poor battery life of 3G mobile phones are putting off consumers signing up to 3G services. Operators expect handset size and battery life to improve next year and be comparable to current 2G handsets.