The Irish Technology News Service SiliconRepublic.com is discussing what it considers to be the first shot of a soon-to-ensue mobile broadband war. Who fired it? 3.

It is already a competitive market and 3 have just added the Huawei E220 dongle to monthly plan options, which further reduces the purchase price of their mobile broadband service. Elaine Carey, 3’s head of sales, said of the move “We’ve consistently driven down prices across the board on broadband and the competition have continually had to react to keep up […] This free device with a monthly fee of €19.99 for 10GB of data is throwing down the gauntlet again.”

This all comes as 3 are shown to be the fastest growing network in Ireland, according to a ComReg report for Q1. The SilconRepublic.com article also makes note that 3 are one of three companies competing to secure government funding with the aim to bring broadband to the more remote regions of Ireland.