Three to offer free mobile broadband in rural black spots

Mobile operator Three is set to give away 3G broadband service to those in rural areas that cannot get access to fixed line services.

Under the plans the firm is initially to give away 3G dongles with a year of broadband access for free to over ten rural communities including North Nottinghamshire. The move appears to be aimed at boosting their case for access to additional radio frequency spectrum to operate services wider afield.

"We’ve built the UK’s most extensive 3G network using high-frequency spectrum, if we gain access to low-frequency spectrum like 800Mhz we will be able to significantly improve both indoor and outdoor rural coverage for the UK’s smartphone and mobile broadband users," said Three boss Dave Dyson in a release.

The free service being by Three will deliver an speeds of 2Mbps per second which while hardly top shelf broadband is still a major lifeline for those out of range of any form of broadband at present.