Woolworths is the first non-specialist retailer to sell prepay dongles, offering 3’s pay-as-you-go mobile broadband in recent weeks.
Woolies mobile buyer, Rebecca Hughes, has reported a moderate start to sales, but added: ‘Once the market starts to get bigger and people start to understand it, we anticipate real growth in the category. It’s something we want to be involved in.'
Vodafone is expected to challenge 3, which is currently the only network offering a pay-as-you-go dongle deal, with its own prepay offering in the coming weeks.
Vodafone sales director, Tom Devine, said: ‘We’re working on pay-as-you-go mobile broadband now.’
He added: ‘We reckon there are four million laptops going to be sold this year – that gives you some idea of the potential size of the market.’
Other non-specialists such as Argos and Tesco are also believed to be close to making prepay dongles available through some of their stores.