Orange yesterday announced its first product for the UK market that uses 3G network technology and pledged to have the country's largest network to span existing technology and hi-tech broadband.

From July 19, Orange will be offering business customers a card that plugs into a laptop to enable them to download files and access emails at seven times the speed of GPRS network technology. Orange reckons its 3G network will cover 66% of the UK population. "We are not just in London, but the regions where mobile really matters," said Orange's UK head John Allwood.

Orange said yesterday that it has signed up handset makers LG and SonyEricsson to supply the first wave of 3G phones. Orange is also testing a range of laptop cards, which will connect with public broadband or wireless hotspots with a view to launching a service to be even faster than 3G this year.

Orange has struck a deal in the UK with BT to use its 2,500 hotspots for the service. Its French business customers will be able to access fast broadband on their laptops through its parent France Télécom's 3,400 sites.