Poland’s PTC inaugurates HSDPA network

Poland’s third largest mobile operator by subscribers, Polska Telefonia Cyfrowa (PTC), currently the subject of an ownership dispute between Deutsche Telekom and Vivendi, has launched an HSDPA network in 55 localities covering Warsaw, the Silesian region and Gdansk to complement its existing 3G network. Telecompaper writes that the cellco is offering transmission speeds of up to 1.8Mbps, with plans to increase this to 14.4Mbps, as well as expanding service coverage to Szczecin, Torun, Bydgoszcz and Lublin. PTC is hoping to cover eight million Poles with its W-CDMA network, or around 20% of the population, and already offers an ExpressCard Merlin XU870 data card and Huawei E620 data card for its Era customers. The operator is confident of signing up around 100,000 UMTS/HSDPA users by the end of the year.