Vodafone halves 3G prices from today

Vodafone has taken a knife to its 3G pricing, cutting the cost of a monthly data subscription by half, to £15, for a distinctly reasonable allowance of 3GB, in a move that looks like it’s designed to open up 3G data cards from businessmen on the go to the average Joe.

Of course, you’ll need to sign up for an 18 or 24 month contract but Voda will sweeten the deal by throwing in a USB modem for gratis. For commitment phobes, there’s a 30-day package for £20 with no contract to sign and for roamers, there’s a £9.99 option for 24 hours’ access if you’re on one of Vodafone’s networks outside the UK.

While Vodafone UK has been a little slow to introduce this sort of much-needed commodity pricing – its Aussie arm unveiled a 5GB for $39 (about £18) in December – halving prices will hopefully see the number of data users shoot up. Obviously cheaper 3G is good news for consumers but it could well be a smart move for Vodafone too, with the operator revealing data revenue is up by 50 percent while data card users up by 100 percent. The only downside on the deal? No word on whether existing users will get to take up the new tariff or if it’s only for newbies.