The UK's Vodafone Group, Germany's Siemens AG, France's Alcatel and Japan's NEC and DoCoMo operators are banding together in order to create a wide area mobile phone standard that's over 10 times faster than 3G.

The technology, which is being pitched at a 2009/2010 launch (basic tech finalised for 2007) and has yet to be given a clear name, would allow the instant transmission of high-resolution video to mobiles.

Given that the best, per person, transmission over 3G is supposed to be roughly 384Kbps then we'd surmise that 384Kbps * 10 = nearly 4Mbps.

Typically this is a long way off, by which time fixed land-based networks should be well into the 25/30Mbps area, thus keeping the scale roughly correct with present day services.

Having said that, 3G has only just become widespread and continues to face an uphill struggle due to hefty prices, limited handset choice and patchy services.