O2 revealed their plans to upgrade their 3G networks across the UK to meet the growing needs of smartphone users. The network operator had already invested £500 million over the last 2 years for offering products like the Apple iPhone and the Palm Pre. The future enhancements will be built upon this, which would result in the investment of several more hundred million pounds.

The company plans on installing 40 mobile data hotspots by Christmas this year in London. Over the next 12 months, 160 more will be installed in the city and 1500 across the UK. These upgrades are supposed to enable data transfers at higher speeds. These speeds are essential especially for certain demanding applications, like watching a YouTube video is equivalent to sending 500,000 texts at the same time.

The Apple iPhone 3G and Apple iPhone 3GS recently became available with rival operators Orange and Vodafone, which put an end to the gadgets' exclusivity with O2. Orange had even launched a campaign to advertise their 3G network coverage across the UK for using the iPhone. And O2's announcements just followed close after. However, an O2 spokesperson denied that their network upgrade had anything to do with competition from rivals.