November 20 2006

Will flat rate mobile broadband encourage shoppers?

One flat fee for internet use via your mobile. Is this what online retailers have been waiting for from the mobile world? Hutchison Whampoa, owner of the 3 mobile network, has launched a flat-rate tariff for internet use from mobile devices, which, depending on the actual price of the monthly plan should encourage more people to 3G.

X-Series will enable customer to make unlimited calls using Skype, and, of course, give access to the internet and messaging services from Yahoo!, Windows Live Messenger and Google. For an extra fee, mobile users will also be able to watch their home television via their mobile using Sling and access their home PC remotely (and therefore digital content such as music files, photos and videos). "This is the internet as it was meant to be," said Canning Fok, group managing director.

This charging structure overturns the traditional mobile model of charging per minute, per message, per click, per event or per megabyte. This has been made possible by the development of "all IP mobile networks, network speed upgrades and peer-to-peer technologies". As a result, the cost of providing mobile "broadband internet and media applications may be expected to continue to decline, as it has in the internet and fixed-line broadband."

The tariff will be available in the UK from 1 December - just in time for Christmas so wait for those teenage cries of "but so and so is getting one for Christmas!" X-Series may be the first flat-rate fee in the UK, but 3 is likely to be followed by other 3G operators.

It will be up to retailers online to turn consumers into customers and change the tapping of fingers under desks in schools, colleges and offices from text messaging to shopping.

Emma Herrod