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
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
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
I thought Dialog charged Rs. 20/- (and not 2.-) per MB. Their usual charge is 2 cents a KB.
McCain
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.
Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia: South Korea Country Report
This report on data protection in South Korea is part of the “Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia” (D4DAsia) project, which aims, inter alia, to create and mobilize new knowledge about the tensions, gaps, and evolution of the data governance ecosystem, taking into account both formal and informal policies and practices. This report presents a focused case study of South Korea’s evolving data protection framework and its efforts to balance strong privacy protections with data-driven innovation
Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia: Nepal Country Report
This report on data governance in Nepal is part of the “Harnessing Data for Democratic Development in South and Southeast Asia” (D4DAsia) project, which aims, inter alia, to create and mobilize new knowledge about the tensions, gaps, and evolution of the data governance ecosystem, taking into account both formal and informal policies and practices. The report provides an overview of Nepal’s constitutional and governance framework and examines the laws, policies, and institutional arrangements that shape the collection, processing, storage, access, and sharing of data.
LIRNEasia Policy Fellow Ashwini Natesan Participates in South Asian Regional Dialogue on AI Governance
LIRNEasia Policy Fellow Ashwini Natesan participated as a panellist at the Regional Dialogue on AI in Governance held on 19 February 2025 in New Delhi, India. The high-level discussion marked the culmination of a regional initiative delivered under Canada’s Indo-Pacific Engagement Initiative, in partnership with Humber Polytechnic and Social & Media Matters.
Links
User Login
Themes
Social
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feed
Contact
9A 1/1, Balcombe Place
Colombo 08
Sri Lanka
+94 (0)11 267 1160
+94 (0)11 267 5212
info [at] lirneasia [dot] net
Copyright © 2026 LIRNEasia
a regional ICT policy and regulation think tank active across the Asia Pacific