Mobile network Three scraps data caps

In what appears to be a plan to win over more smartphone consumers, mobile phone company Three have eradicated data caps.

As more and more people use their mobile for internet access in addition to calls, mobile phone operators have struggled to meet this growing demand. Data limits were introduced earlier this year, as worries were expressed that some consumers were putting a strain on networks due to the extreme amounts of data being used.

As the limits were introduced, Three had the highest cap at 1 gigabyte (GB) per month. Most of the other phone operators set data caps on basic phone tariffs at 500 megabytes (MB) per month. However, as Three remains one of the smaller mobile networks, they are still actively working to gain new clientele.

Ben Wood, of research firm CCS Insight, comments on Three's scrapping of data caps: "It is a bold move by Three and goes against the prevailing tide set by other networks who are trying to rein in data usage." He goes on to issue caution, "This is great news for prolific mobile data users but Three will need to be careful it does not end up attracting all the extreme users who have proved a real headache to rival networks with their excessive data usage."

As smartphones increasingly offer more to the consumer than the basic handset, the scrapping of data caps certainly makes things easier for the customer. With Three being the first operator to re-introduce the offer of unlimited data, it poses a challenge to the other mobile phone networks.

Ernest Doku, of comparison website uSwitch, comments: "It will be interesting to see how the competition will react. They will certainly not find it easy to handle the same influx of traffic as Three's data-savvy 3G infrastructure - nor will they be willing to give it away for free - making it difficult to see them follow suit with all-you-can-eat alternatives."