L'Orange is set to launch consumer 3G services early next week - just in time for Christmas. Orange follows Hutchison's 3 and Vodafone into the UK market.

The launch will be a low-key affair, with only two or three handsets on offer this year, according to the Financial Times. Orange previously said it would sell handsets from Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sanyo and Sony Ericsson. The firm is not releasing any more details before Monday.

Back in October, Orange chief executive Sanjiv Ahuja raised fears that the network would not launch 3G services because of technical problems and issues with handsets. ®

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