Vodafone Wednesday formally rolled out its 3G mobile communication products and services in 12 European countries and Japan.

The company expects 3G to begin gaining mass market acceptance next year, and forecasts over 10 million customers will be using its Vodafone Live portal with 3G services by March 2006 in it subsidiaries. "Our rough estimate is that the 3G service will be used by 10% of our base within the next 15 months," said Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin in a press conference that was also broadcast over the Web.

Vodafone is seeking to make back its massive investment in 3G, including the £16.6 billion ($30.8 billion) it spent on spectrum licenses four years ago. Competitors like Orange SA and the mobile arm of Deutsche Telekom AG, T-Mobile International AG, are taking a slightly more cautious approach with the launch of their 3G services, which are expected by the end of the year. Overall, Europe's major mobile phone operators have spent more than €100 billion ($129 billion) on 3G licenses.

The Newbury, England, company is presenting 3G as an enhancement to its existing Vodafone Live portal, originally launched in October 2002, and is promoting 10 new 3G handsets, seven of which are exclusive to Vodafone, and services such as video calling, 3-D arcade games, mobile TV and music downloads as part of that existing brand.

Seven of the 3G handsets will be available in Japan, with nine available in Europe, Vodafone said. Not all handsets will be available in every country, with about six handsets offered in each of the European countries where the Vodafone Live service is offered: Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K.

The 3G phones will be able to roam between Vodafone's European markets and Japan, Sarin said.

Vodafone announced in September that it would begin offering several new 3G mobile phones to customers by year-end, including Europe's first 3G 2-megapixel camera phone, from handset makers Samsung, Nokia, Sony Ericsson Mobile, Sharp, Motorola and NEC.

Vodafone has altered its pricing model for the 3G service, with users charged for individual content purchases, rather than according to volume as it had previously done, the company said. Additionally, browsing will be free or included in a bundle of services.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.