The battle to encourage mobile phones users to connect to the internet on the move will intensify this week when Orange, one of Britain’s biggest operators, launches cut-price data deals including “free” content.

The French-owned group, which has 17 million UK customers, will unveil new tariffs that will allow mobile customers to have unlimited access to the net for a daily or monthly fee, or else pay for short “snacking” sessions. Access to basic news headlines and some search services will be free. At present, customers are charged per unit of data they use.

The move by Orange to simplify charges is part of the latest attempt by mobile operators to encourage customers to take up more lucrative data services and finally transform “3G” into a mass-market product.

In 2000, at the height of the dotcom boom, the five main mobile operators spent £22.5 billion acquiring licences to operate “third generation” technology. The new service was supposed to transform mobile phones into mini-pcs and see Britons video-calling and downloading movies on the go.

However, customers have remained defiantly uninterested and today 96 per cent of mobile revenues are still generated by plain calls and texting. Orange, in common with its rivals T-Mobile and 3, which have moved to flat-rate tariffs, believes that the slow uptake for internet services is down, in part, to confusing pricing.

The traditional way of offering access to the internet, priced per unit of data downloaded, usually per megabyte (equivalent to 20 web pages), is deemed deeply confusing by many customers.

Chris Frost, at Uswitch, the independent price comparison service, said that the new-style “all you can eat” deals being offered by operators were likely to stimulate uptake by consumers, but “more compelling products will still be required before 3G becomes mainstream”.

Sweeteners designed to turn texters into surfers

The new offers

Orange

Contract: Internet “snacks” – 30p for 15mins with daily cap of £1.50 or a “bundle” priced at £1 per day or £5 monthly for evening/ weekends or £8 monthly “anytime”

Pay-as-you-go: Internet snacks – 40p for 15 mins with daily cap of £2 or a daily £1 bundle

3

Contract: £5 per month unlimited usage

T-Mobile

Contract: £7.50 per month unlimited browsing on “Web ’n’ Walk” or capped at £1 day for other customers

Pay-as-you-go: Capped daily at £1

3G facts

— Launch prices were up to £100 for an all-inclusive monthly package of calls, text and data.

Today you can get the same thing for £25

— 3G was meant to turn a mobile phone into a mini-PC allowing users to browse the internet and download music and football clips on the move

— Today 96 per cent of mobile revenues are still generated from plain calls and texting

Sources: Company reports, Times archive

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