UK incumbent operator BT has added mobile broadband to its consumer packages, positioning the technology as a complement to fixed broadband.

BT Total Broadband customers can now get up to 8Mbps cellular broadband including 1GB of monthly data usage. The lowest option costs £15.65 per month over 18 months for both fixed and mobile broadband, with BT claiming HSDPA download speeds of 7.2Mbps.

Steven Hartley, senior analyst at Ovum, said that by squarely positioning mobile broadband for consumers as an extension to its fixed service, BT’s move, “is yet another example of mobile broadband being seen as a complement rather than a substitute to fixed broadband in markets with high fixed broadband penetration.”

Hartley also noted that, as a large fixed player moving into converged broadband domain, which to date has only seen mobile players launch fixed broadband services (with the exception of Virgin Media), BT is able to leverage its strength in fixed, making its offering stand out from the ‘me too’ mobile broadband packages that have flooded the UK market. The package also includes unlimited wifi hotspot access and other broadband ‘value-added services’, such as free security and online back up.