Vodafone Malta Ltd will provide wireless data transfer speeds that are up to five times faster than 3G and 40 times faster than 2G, Hatem Dowidar, Vodafone Malta chief executive officer, said yesterday.

Speaking at the traditional Christmas lunch for the media at Capua Palace, in Sliema, Mr Dowidar said the launch of high-speed downlink packet access (HSDPA), which is considered to be 3.5G, will be a ground-breaking achievement for Vodafone.

The first 3.5G mobile phone, the Motorola V1100, will be available from Vodafone retail outlets later this month while the HSDPA Mobile Connect Card V740 is already on sale. HSDPA will be first available in the Paceville area and the Malta International Airport, he said.

Mr Dowidar said that during the second quarter of 2007, in addition to mobile telephony, Vodafone will be addressing the home market. Along with mobile and fixed broadband, it will be offering other services for home users.

He also underscored milestones during 2006, the first important achievement being 3G technology with video calling and full track music downloads, including access to the latest songs by top local artists.

He said 3G permits reliable data downloads at super charged speed in Malta or abroad in major European cities.

Since the launch of the service in August, local 3G coverage is increasingly being extended and now includes Valletta, Birkirkara, Hamrun, Sta Venera, lower Iklin, Lija, Pembroke, Sliema, Paceville, Swieqi and the airport.

With the launch of new services such as WiMax, 2007 promises to be another eventful year for Vodafone customers, Mr Dowidar said.