A new UK virtual mobile network called Samba Mobile is promising a mobile broadband service without any running costs. Customers pay £2.99 for a SIM card plus £2.00 post & packing and then watch video ads to ‘top up’ their account with credit. A 3G ‘dongle’ will be available in the future.

The company, which uses the Three UK network for its service, says the average mobile broadband user will need to watch a few minutes of commercials each day to ‘pay’ for their tablet or laptop usage. Ads can be watched at any time as long as the customer has credit.

Watching an average advert will generate 3.5MB of free data. Additional data can be bought as a top-up; either 250MB for £3.49 or 500MB for £5.99.

Samba Mobile offers a browser plug-in and iPad app to help customers monitor their remaining credit.

Ben Atherton, who founded Samba Mobile in 2010, is also Chief Commercial Officer of mobile marketing business Brandtone.