3G has arrived: Official

Faster wireless communications and television on mobile phones will be some of the key themes at 3GSM in Cannes, the world's biggest mobile communications trade show which opens next week.

Third generation mobile telephony has arrived at last, and while one part of the wireless industry is busy building multimedia services to make the most of those fast connections, others are working to boost speeds even more.

In 2004 some 45 wireless carriers opened their third generation (3G) UMTS technology standard networks to consumers, with Vodafone alone starting in 13 countries.

But only a modest range of handsets for these networks is available and mobile vendors will show a broad range of new models that will be on sale later this year.