Vodafone In Talks To Integrate 3G Data Card Into Laptop

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Vodafone Group PLC (VOD), the U.K. mobile telecommunications company, Monday said it's in talks with computer manufacturers regarding the integration of third-generation, or 3G, data cards into laptop computers.

Vodafone is holding its annual investor and analyst day in Newbury, England, Monday.

The company has sold around 600,000 3G data cards over the past two years. The cards are inserted into the side of a laptop computer to provide wireless access to the Internet via Vodafone's 3G network.

Peter Bamford, Vodafone chief marketing officer, said that with 12 million laptops sold in Europe every year, the advent of High-Speed Data Packet Access, or HSDPA - a software patch which enables faster download speeds on 3G networks available in the first half of 2006 - provides Vodafone with robust growth prospects.

Bamford said; "This is a very big opportunity and we intend to be at the absolute forefront of that. Why does anybody need to plug-in?"

Bamford said that he expects laptops with integrated 3G data cards to come to market over the next 18 months, although he said the rate of adoption is unclear.

Company Web site: Http://www.vodafone.com

-By Nic Fildes, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9264; nicolas.fildes@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires"

Posted to the site on 19th September 2005