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From April 1 Vodafone customers will have access to 3G roaming in the UK, Spain and Portugal, and shortly in France, Holland, Greece, Sweden and Japan too. Over the coming months the service will be extended to the other countries where the Vodafone Group offers the service.

Vodafone's UMTS Mobile Connect Card, which was launched in Italy at the end of February, enables customers to send data over the 3G network at speeds of up to 384 Kbps where 3G coverage exists, automatically hooking up to the GSM-GPRS network where it does not, thanks to its dual-mode radio capability.

With 3G roaming everyone who uses the Vodafone Connect Card in Italy can thus use the card in the above countries, thanks to the automatic connection to Vodafone's UMTS network. Vodafone Italia is now able to offer 3G coverage in 41 cities, which will become 125 by the end of April 2004, representing 30% of the population.

Vodafone continues to be the Italian operator with the largest number of GSM voice roaming agreements, covering 356 operators in 203 states. These include Japan thanks to the partnership with J-PHONE, the Vodafone Group's Japanese operator of 3G services that allow customers to insert their GSM SIM into a 3G handset.