Europe Ireland : 3, Ireland's newest mobile network, which has 99.5% population coverage for talk and text, today announced that it now has the widest 3G coverage in Ireland.

Inset Robert Finnegan MD for 3 Ireland quoted below.

3 now has 72% of the population able to access its extensive array of exciting mobile content, from high speed audio and music video downloads, to the latest football highlights and goals. 3G is a superior technology to existing networks, in that it can deliver faster and higher quality of media content to an ever demanding consumer.

3 is well ahead of schedule with its network roll-out and is set to comfortably beat the regulatory requirement of having 85% population coverage by the end of 2007 as stipulated by ComReg in its 3G mobile licence agreement.

In conjunction with its partners Nokia, NEC and Siemens Mobile, 3 has undertaken one of the fastest network rollouts in European telecoms history. The pace of the rollout is set to continue, with the company stating that it will continue to leverage its leadership in 3G services for the benefit of the Irish consumer. 3's extensive 3G network now covers all the cities and major towns in Ireland.

Robert Finnegan, managing director, 3 Ireland, said: "We are absolutely delighted with the progress and pace of our 3G network rollout. The expansion of our network in Ireland is a further testament to our commitment to bring exciting video mobile services to the Irish population as quickly as possible."

David Cooper, CTO, 3 Ireland said: "We have built our 3G network from the ground up and are investing around €200 million to ensure we have the best possible network available to the Irish population. With no legacy equipment to manage and significant investment continually being made in the latest 3G equipment, 3 provides Irish consumers with a 'great value, superb quality' network for video mobile services."