SmarTone Offers Free HSDPA Trials

March 12, 2007- source: BWCS

Hong Kong mobile phone company, SmarTone-Vodafone has started offering free HSDPA connections to taxi-drivers. The move is part of a marketing drive for its newly-launched service as the operator seeks to highlight awareness of HSDPA among consumers in Hong Kong.

SmarTone says that around one hundred taxis will be equipped with its high-speed mobile broadband service. The idea is to offer passengers a free trial of HSDPA services and connection speeds whilst they are on the road.

Passengers in will be able to plug their laptops, or handheld devices, into a USB modem while they sit in one of the specially-adapted taxis. In addition to the free connections in taxis, trial, SmarTone-Vodafone has also set up workstations for consumers to try out its Mobile Broadband in various retail outlets around Hong Kong.

In November 2006, the Chinese government announced that Hong Kong would be one of the locations for six, trial 3G networks to be set up this year. The move, which will see half a dozen major cities set up test systems, is designed to ease the launch of next generation mobile services in the country before the 2008 Olympics. Each location will set up a trial based on the TD-SCDMA standard.