Vodafone Group launched its highest speed mobile data offering in Germany on Thursday. The service, which uses High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) technology, can deliver mobile data at rates as fast as 1.4Mbps, Vodafone said.

The service is available to customers using a special PC Card in Hanover, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich. Vodafone said it expects to extend coverage to 1,800 towns in the future.

The announcement marks the first launch of HSDPA for Vodafone. Last year, Vodafone said it would start introducing HSDPA in its markets in mid-2006.

Vodafone also revealed pricing for the service. Customers will pay €49 ($58) per month for 5G bytes of data use. After two months exceeding 5G bytes, users will be charged €0.50 per additional megabyte.

At Cebit, Vodafone is showing laptops from Dell and Lenovo that have built-in HSDPA and operate on Vodafone's network. The laptops aren't yet commercially available but will be during the first half of the year, Vodafone said. Vodafone also said that it is working with other laptop makers and plans to offer additional laptops with built-in HSDPA in the future.

Vodafone is also showing a prototype HSDPA phone, the Samsung SGH-ZV50. It's a clamshell phone with a 2 megapixel camera that will be sold exclusively by Vodafone starting in the second quarter.

T-Mobile launched HSDPA in Germany this week and began offering it in Austria last week.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.