Two mobile communications giants, Vodafone and Sony Ericsson, have announced a joint initiative designed to make affordable mobile broadband more accessible.

Two major mobile communications providers have announced plans to make high speed mobile broadband more accessible as well as more affordable for small and medium sized businesses in the UK through a venture involving Lenevo ThinkPad notebooks, which will have mobile broadband technology integrated within, which will eliminate the need for a separate dongle or modem.

The two communication firms are looking to provide cheaper built in technology, which will be integrated in all of the Lenevo ThinkPad notebooks, and from the beginning of next month the 3G notebooks are expected to cost the same price as a standard laptop, which means that consumers will not have to pay any extra for the built in technology.

This technology will prove useful to small and medium sized businesses who need continuous connectivity to the Internet but also have to be mindful when it comes to costs and budgets. Built in technology from Sony Ericsson will be used for mobile broadband, and users will be able to connect by using the Vodafone mobile broadband service, with Vodafone offering a thirty day free trial.

An official from Vodafone said that there would be no commitment for those that wanted to trial the technology, stating: “It’s a real free trial, with no commitment. The connection manager will ask for your name and email, but no bank details.” Officials have also said that whilst the cost of notebooks with this built in technology was around one hundred pounds more than the standard models, the price will now be around the same, which means greater affordability for consumers.