European network operator 3 has announced a new service called X-Series. Under X-Series, many popular bandwidth intensive services will be available for a flat monthly fee.

Partnering with many popular service providers, X-Series allows instant messaging through Yahoo! Messenger and Windows Live Messenger, voice over IP calling with Skype, remote media access with Orb and Sling, and mobile search with Yahoo! and Google for a flat monthly fee.

This is counter to most other operator’s pricing models, where the customer is charged an expensive pro-rata fee based on data usage, and is not allowed bandwidth intensive services such as Sling and Orb at all. Unlimited Skype calling also provides an interesting way customers could save on their phone bill, with Skype-to-Skype calling free under X-Series.

Canning Fok, Group Managing Director of Hutchison Whampoa (3’s parent company), said “This is the internet as it was meant to be and what people have been waiting for. Mobile broadband is the natural next step for mobile services, extending the full power of the internet to mobile handsets.”

X-Series from 3 will include unlimited Skype calling and instant messaging, though there will initially be an additional cost for high-bandwidth services like Orb and Sling. X-Series will be available in the UK starting December 1 on select Symbian-based handsets, with a rollout to 3’s other markets in early 2007.

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