Telecompaper

Irish mobile operator Meteor, owned by Eircom, has started selling its 3G Broadband to Go service. The service will begin with download speeds of up 7.2 Mbps, but will soon move to up to 14.4 Mbps. The company said its new Ericsson network is LTE-ready, and the next-generation technology can be deployed as a software upgrade. Meteor chief operations officer Brendan Lynch said that the existing network covers 33 percent of the population, mainly in Dublin and Cork, and is expected to cover 53 percent by September, local news site SiliconRepublic reports. The operator has launched its 3G network with the Huawei E180 dongle, which will retail for EUR 29 on postpaid contracts. Meteor is also expected to launch within weeks the Huawei E182 dongle, which will give users 14.4 Mbps speeds. The service will cost EUR 16.99 per month for 5 GB of data traffic. Prepay users can access a EUR 2.99 day pass or a EUR 19.99 30-day pass.