Mobile operator 3 is set to offer budget mobile data to UK punters. According to reports, three new tariffs will see it match the most attractive offerings from T-Mobile, starting from £10 a month. That's the same price that Demon set when it launched its pioneering consumer dial-up internet offering, back in 1993.

At £10 a month, the basic Mobile Broadband package ("Light") gets you 1GB of data, while £15 gets you 3GB, and £25 up to 7GB. Data usage outside these buckets is charged at 10p/MB. 3 will throw in a free USB modem to existing customers, or £29 if you sign up for eighteen months.

It leaves the other two UK operators competing for the dunce's cap. O2 and Orange both offer 1GB for £45 a month. We're excluding plans with a cap in the megabytes, such as Orange's 160MB for £20 a month.

3 will offer the service with five HSDPA handsets, but using the phone as a modem won't incur the wrath of the data cops, as it does with some other networks.

3 told us today that "our pricing has not yet been released and the prices you quote are inaccurate at present". ®

Related stories

• Thus passes to C&W (1 September 2008)
• New competition minister makes broadband rallying cry (19 September 2007)
• 3 Ireland's broadband stumbles to its knees (7 September 2007)
• Update: 3 Ireland's broadband (nearly) back on its feet (24 August 2007)
• Broadband over power turns on both sides of the Atlantic (23 August 2007)
• 3 confirms tenner-a-month data deal (23 August 2007)
• Mobile workshop The practitioner's view of wireless (10 July 2007)
• Court rules 3G licences weren't VAT inclusive (26 June 2007)
• Nokia pitches 3G at the mainstream (18 June 2007)
• T-Mobile eyes hotspots and Sprint femtocells (11 May 2007)
• T-Mobile 'super 3G' modem tackles Vodafone on price (24 April 2007)
• Ireland overrun with HSDPA networks (20 December 2006)