A £1 million investment in Manx Telecom's mobile broadband network will mean subscribers now benefit from improved speeds on their mobile phones and laptops.

The cash has been spent on improving coverage across the island, and enabling pay-as-you-go customers to access the internet via 3G, reports Isle of Man Today.

Users will also be able to benefit from noticeably faster speeds when uploading images and video thanks to technical improvements to the High Speed Packet Access network which will double the rate at which data can be downloaded.

Speaking to the newspaper, Mike Readshaw, Manx Telecom's Next Generation Network Programme Manager, said: "Thanks to these technical improvements customers will have a better experience using our mobile broadband network."

He added that the improvements were necessary due to a greater number of people accessing social networks and other websites via their smartphones rather than their PCs or laptops.

Stephane Teral, Principal Analyst for mobile and fixed-mobile convergence infrastructure at Infonetics Research, recently stated that demand for 3G mobile broadband services is rising.