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Vodafone today announced the launch of Ireland's first commercial third generation service. From today, Vodafone Ireland business customers can avail of the Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS Datacard.

The Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS Datacard plugs into customers' laptops and provides high-speed remote access to company intranet, internet, email and office applications at speeds of up to seven times faster than a GPRS datacard. With download speeds of up to 384 kbps, the Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS datacard significantly increases the speed and efficiency of popular office applications in a mobile environment and enables employees to work more productively and effectively when away from the office.

Vodafone Ireland has created five bundle price plans to support the Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS Datacard. These price plans have been developed to meet projected customer needs. The Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS Datacard ranges in price from EUR 0 to a maximum of EUR 288 (ex VAT), depending on the size of the bundle and the number of cards purchased. Monthly bundle charges range from EUR 25 to EUR 199. The datacard can be purchased through Vodafone's business sales team and will be available through Vodafone's retail stores nationwide from 7th July.

Speaking at the launch of the Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS Datacard, Paul Donovan, CEO, Vodafone Ireland said "The launch of the Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS Datacard represents a significant development for Vodafone Ireland and marks the first significant step towards our roll out of 3G services in Ireland. Already we have achieved 45% population coverage with our 3G network. We are committed to continued deployment of the network, and we are investing heavily in increasing coverage as quickly as possible to ensure more customers are able to benefit from 3G.

The changing nature of working habits in Ireland has resulted in changing needs from our customers. Vodafone Ireland has consistently led the market in terms of providing solutions to meet these changing needs and today marks another significant move by Vodafone Ireland to provide our customers with the most advanced solutions available. We are confident that the Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS Datacard will be an instant hit with businesses in Ireland".

Designed to meet the needs of individuals, small businesses and large corporate customers alike, the Vodafone Mobile Connect 3G/GPRS Datacard provides a simple, integrated and secure means of accessing information and data anytime, anywhere. All users benefit from seamless working between Vodafone Ireland's 3G and GPRS bearer services. When entering 3G coverage areas, users will experience significantly higher data speeds. Where users are outside the range of 3G coverage, the service automatically switches to the Vodafone Ireland GPRS data network, which covers 99% of the Irish population.