UK 3G operator 3 announced a raft of new applications and services this week in a bid to jolt its business into a higher gear. Under the label of X-Series, 3 has added applications from Sling Media for TV placeshifting, home PC control from Orb, and most importantly a Skype client for Symbian handsets, which Skype hasn't commented on.

Customers if X-series services will face a new charging structure for what 3 is pitching as essentially mobile broadband services, which they describe as follows:

"X-Series customers will be charged flat access fees for X-Series mobile broadband services on top of their basic subscription. The access fees will include all you can Skype, all you can chat by instant text message and all you can search and browse. There will initially be an additional access fee for customers who also take higher-bandwidth services like Sling and Orb. Just like the fixed line internet, all X-Series services will be free at the point of use, subject only to fair usage limits.

The X-Series will lay the foundations for the mobile broadband charging models of the future. The broadband internet is based on a completely different economic model than that of most mobile operators today. As internet and media technologies have evolved, customers are able to do more at less cost. Customers in the future will be attracted by greater and greater choice, and higher and higher usage levels, for fair, attractive and transparent access fees.

This charging structure overturns the traditional telephony model of charging per minute, per message, per click, per event and per megabyte. This is made possible by the rapid development of all IP (internet protocol) mobile networks, HSDPA and HSUPA network speed upgrades, peer-to-peer technologies, and a number of efficiency improvements in every aspect of a mobile operator's business. As a result, the cost of providing broadband internet and media applications in mobility may be expected to continue to decline, as it has in the internet and fixed-line broadband world."

X-Series services will be available December 1.