Spain's leading telecom operator Telefónica is all set to round off a €430-million investment plan originally launched in 2006. The icing on the investment cake will be the extended deployment of its cell phone broadband service to 17 municipalities in the Basque Country. Telefónica regional head honcho Oscar Alegría announced yesterday that the broadband data switching service was to be expanded to 8 MB. Alegría made the announcement at the presentation of the Information Society in Spain 2008 report.

Cell phone broadband means users can go online from state-of-the-art cell phones like iPhone and laptops, netbooks included.

Alegría stressed that expanding broadband for cell phones in the Basque region was a strategic move by Telefónica, as the extension was a "key factor" in the future development of the information society in the region.

As part of the move, Telefónica will be using HSUPA technology to increase data switching capability to a maximum of eight megas in the region's three provincial capitals and 14 other municipalities, including Mondragón, Zarauz, Irun, Renteria, Llodio, Baracaldo, Bermeo, Sopelana and Guecho.

Furthermore, Alegría underscored the fact that broadband data traffic from cell phones had doubled over the last year and tripled in laptop PCs.

Telefónica announced recently that it now registered 270,000 connections on its fixed ADSL broadband service in the region.

At present, Telefónica has 1.8 million accesses in the Basque Country, including fixed and cell telephone, Internet on broadband and its Imagenio TV channel. Imagenio now had some 30,000 users.