O2 is to slash the number of free texts people can send from its Web site from 100 a month to just ten.

The mobile phone company is expected to introduce the new measures from April 1.

In a statement the company said: "In an increasingly competitive market it is necessary to review, from time to time, our offerings to our customer base. As a result of this the decision was made to reduce the number of free texts [that can be sent from the O2 Web site] to 10 per month."

However, O2 maintains that it remains an "an extremely competitive offer" and insists that ten free texts is "more than adequate for the vast number of our regular users".

One irate Register reader who spotted the change told us: "I think this is pretty disgraceful, they are citing an 'increasingly competitive market' but surely this does not justify such a drastic reduction in service.

"Sorry to sound like a Watchdog viewer but I can't even find an email address to send a complaint," he said.

A spokesman for O2 said that the reduction to ten texts had "not been definitely agreed" as yet and suggested that the figure "could be slightly more than ten".

A final decision is expected later this week. ®