Denmark's TDC Mobile says that is planning an extension of its 3G coverage by an additional 23 towns before year-end. A similar number of towns till follow in first quarter of 2007. TDC launched its 3G network last October in Copenhagen, Aarhus, Odense and Aalborg. Since then towns have followed in quick succession, and now the 30 largest towns in Denmark are covered by 3G. The towns have more than 25,000 inhabitants.

With the planned 23 areas before New Year, also towns with 5,000 - 25,000 will be covered.

"The market for 3G telephony has developed rapidly since the launch of our network last fall. The sale of mobile broadband cards for PC's has more then tripled, and data traffic has doubled. Almost every fourth TDC Mobile business customer now uses some sort of data transmission - and that is even exclusive of SMS. This shows us that our strategy has proved right: data services and increased data traffic must be key driver in 3G business," says President of TDC Mobile A/S, Mr. Mads Middelboe,

As planned, TDC Mobile will cover 53 towns before year-end, and as soon as first quarter of 2007 the plan is to further open up the 3G network in further 27 towns.

The Mobile World subscriber database reports that TDC Mobile ended the first half of this year with just over 2.6 million customers, giving them a market share of 48%.