3 Enters The Broadband Market In Style

While mobile handset broadband is still some way off for the masses, 3 have taken a step in the right direction with the introduction of a mobile broadband service for use on laptops and home computers. In what many see as a stepping stone towards the introduction of a fully mobile handset broadband service in due course, 3 have cleverly begun to sign up laptop broadband customers with the competitively priced service.

Prices will start from as little as £10 a month, for which customers will receive access to the 2.8Mbps broadband service, which is easily added to your laptop via a small USB modem connection which simply fits into your laptop port. While there are already a variety of broadband services around, this particular offering allows true mobile connectivity at broadband speeds - something which the business and personal markets have been crying out for.

The launch of 3’s broadband service comes at a time when the mobile phone market in the UK is looking for new long term direction, with many areas of the market saturated by competition. Experts have also predicted a major push towards 3G services in the next few years, where multi-billion dollar networks have effectively being lying dormant, waiting for the technology to catch up with the networks available.

It will be interesting to see how 3’s entry into the home and mobile broadband market is taken by competitors such as Vodafone, who recently seem to have targeted them as a major competitor. While Vodafone are one of the largest companies in the industry, with massive financial backing, 3 are owned by Hutchison Whampoa who have finally decided to invest heavily in the 3 network and take on the majors.

After a slow start in the UK, 3 network seem set to attack their competitors over the next few years, and with the financial backing of parent company Hutchison Whampoa, even the mighty Vodafone may have a fight on their hands.