Posted: 15th Dec, 2010 By: MarkJ

Mobile operator Three (3) has revealed plans to buck the industry trend of fixed Mobile Broadband usage allowances by launching a highly controversial "
unlimited" service. The move comes at a time when most operators are cash strapped and worried about the prospect of data demand outstripping their revenues.
The operator
plans to launch its new service today. However the change, which will remove charges for excessive use and bring an "
all-you-can-eat" mentality in to play, will initially only impact its "
One Plan" deal for mobile phone users/contracts.
3's One Plan (Current Detail)
* 24 month plan (12 Months for SIM Only)
* 2,000 any network minutes
* 5,000 Three-to-Three minutes
* 5,000 texts
* 1GB internet
* From £25 a month
Customers currently have to pay 10p for every additional MegaByte (MB) downloaded over their existing 1GB usage allowance. Removing this charge will please customers, although it could lead to spiralling data costs for the operator. Especially since Three (3) allows the service to be
tethered with laptops etc.
In recent months some operators, such as O2 UK (
here), have done sharp u-turns on their old unsustainable "
unlimited" data usage policies and begun
imposing restrictions. Going against the grain here is not without its risks, although it would surely win the operator some new customers.
UPDATE 8:49amThe announcement is now official, although at the time of writting Three (3) had not yet updated their website to reflect it.
Sales and Marketing Director, Marc Allera, said:
"The One Plan was already a market-changing offer – we’ve just made it even better. At Three we’ve built a network with the scale and scope to meet people’s data needs both now and into the future – and with more and more customers choosing to opt for next generation smartphones, this will prove more important than ever.”
Everyday thousands of customers buy a smartphone on a two-year contract. The trends clearly show usage grows over time. With its all-you-can-eat data The One Plan will still fit your needs no matter how much data you use.'
We expect to see more people using mobiles than PCs to access the internet by 2015. all-you-can-eat data is designed to remove the possibility of bill shock when you use data, so you can use your smartphone to do everything it was designed for without the worry of cost."
Keep an eye on Three's website for the change to pop up.