BT offers free mobile broadband

BT Business Broadband customers on Option 2 and Option 3 will now be offered a free mobile broadband dongle as part of their package.

The move from BT into the mobile broadband space isn't entirely unexpected, with rival ISP Virgin Media recently announcing a package, though the focus on free access for business customers is a new approach.

Along with the dongle, customers will get 2,000 free minutes of Wi-Fi access within BT Openzone hotspots as well as mobile broadband access through 3G networks, with a 1GB monthly data allowance.

New customers will need to sign up to a two-year contract to get the dongle, and there is only one available per customer.

David Hughes, BT Retail's director of wireless broadband, did not rule out a consumer-focused mobile broadband product from BT in the future. "We're thinking about it," Hughes told Web User.

One analyst was enthusiastic about the deal.

Ciaron Dunne of Broadband Genie said: "BT's free mobile broadband offer is unlikely to shake up the market in the same way that free internet offers from Freeserve and TalkTalk have in the past, but it is a genuinely fresh offer that should find considerable favour with consumers."

www.bt.com