‘Free’ mobile broadband next year?

Posted by Chanuka Wattegama on June 13, 2008 / 4 Comments

Mobile broadband could be bundled with standard contracts as early as 2009, a broadband comparison site has claimed.

If the current rate of price-cutting continues, mobile broadband will soon be perceived as free of charge, according to Top 10 Broadband.

“Competition is reaching its zenith in the mobile broadband market,” said Jessica McArdle, a spokeswoman at Top 10 Broadband.

“It is only a matter of time before mobile broadband modems are offered for free in conjunction with mobile phone packages in the same way as ISPs such as TalkTalk currently offer ‘free’ home broadband with home phone deals.”

Read the full story here.

4 Comments

Indi Samarajiva
June 13, 2008, 1:08 pm
Are you saying that the modems are free or the data packages are? People will always pay (something) for data for a while at least. Right now it’s about Rs 2 per MB on Dialog and Rs 1 on Mobitel, though the packages are tiny. The service is pretty much as fast as DSL and unlike Broadband you can get connected and online within 1 hour. I think it has the potential to do for internet what mobiles did for telephony.
Chanuka Wattegama
June 13, 2008, 2:12 pm
We just reproduce the story for its news value. It *may* happen in the developed world, but for us it is difficult to think operators would bundle broadband within their ordinary packages. It will be like offering a car free when you buy a bicycle.
Janaka Beneragama
September 7, 2008, 11:28 pm
I thought Dialog charged Rs. 20/- (and not 2.-) per MB. Their usual charge is 2 cents a KB.
McCain
September 8, 2008, 5:10 pm
Don’t be over excited. Such ads have been there in Indian press, airports, hotels, TV, etc. but when you REALLY try to use these “FREE’ services, they still ask you to pay something which is hidden.