However, Hartley said that O2's fixed broadband services are only currently available from unbundled exchanges and its customer numbers are small to date - around 100,000.

He said because of that, Ovum doesn’t expect large numbers of mobile broadband customers to come from this category. 
In light of O2's announcement, Hartley said Orange's position in the UK mobile broadband market was particularly interesting.

“Orange is missing a major opportunity due to a strategic emphasis on fixed broadband, combined with almost no marketing and exorbitant pricing [£25 per month for business users and £29.99 for 'non-business customers'] for its mobile broadband offering,” he said.

“O2's announcement at least shows Orange that fixed and mobile broadband can live side by side.”

“Therefore, O2's complementary mobile broadband offering is interesting from a market positioning perspective,” he added.

“But ultimately it is not competitive for consumers, even existing customers.”

Ovum therefore believes that O2's fixed offering “is unlikely to set the market alight” and as a result, “revised pricing looks more likely”.

That means cheaper prices as companies battle to attract and keep mobile broadband customers.

“The longer term outlook for mobile broadband is similar to that of fixed broadband - falling prices and a need to focus on value-added services, or survive as a bitpipe,” Hartley said.