In the old days - a year ago in the fast-paced world of mobile technology - the only way to get broadband was through your fixed-line connection at home. To upload photos to your web page, check the latest videos or look up that nagging query, you had to wait until you got home. Now, with the advent of dongles - broadband modems that plug into a laptop and are not much bigger than a cigarette lighter - high-speed internet can be accessed from almost anywhere.

Mobile broadband takes advantage of 3G networks that can transfer data at speeds approaching those of a fixed-line home internet connection. As a result, mobile broadband is proving a saving grace for mobile phone operators who so far have failed to gain a significant share of the fixed broadband market and risked becoming second-tier players in the world of internet access.

For operators that did not invest in a fixed broadband network, such as Vodafone and T-Mobile, mobile broadband is vital because it gives an entry into the market.

Orange has the largest presence of the mobile operators in home broadband, yet its roster of 1.1 million customers is dwarfed by the market leaders. BT, which holds the No 1 slot, has 4.5 million customers.

In addition, Orange, owned by parent company France Télécom, has lost 80,000 subscribers since last September, including 44,000 in the last quarter alone.

When Tom Alexander, Orange’s chief executive, unveiled his group strategy this year, he insisted that home broadband was a key element in the company’s future alongside mobile broadband.

Vodafone, by comparison, opted to sign a wholesale agreement with BT rather than roll out its own network. Twenty months after its launch, it still has only 50,000 customers but, considering the potential risk to its capital investment, the deal looks like a canny move. O2 was one of the latest entrants into fixed broadband, launching its service last October. It aims to sign up a million customers by 2010.

Shaun Collins, of CCS Insight, points out that the success of mobile broadband means that a company such as Vodafone no longer has to buy an internet service provider, such as Tiscali, to put broadband in their portfolio. “Mobile broadband is the piece of the jigsaw that makes that vision work,” he said.

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