In Future shock awaits mobile firms Mark Heath, research director at Sound Partners and author of a report into 3G futures for consultants Analysys, speaks about the reluctance for operators to offer flat rate pricing, which is in my opinion too, the necessary step to make the mobile internet a reality for all:

In some respects the current pricing systems are designed to help manage the relatively limited data carrying capacities of 2G and 2.5G networks.

But on 3G networks there is, relatively speaking, so much bandwidth available for data that it makes no sense to use a scarcity-based pricing system.

In fact, said Mark Heaththe early days of the net show that flat rate pricing systems, in which users pay a set fee every month to get at as much data as they want, are the best way to encourage customers to do more.

Operators tend to underestimate what's going on with the PSP or the iPod: these are the current mobile tools where people get mobility with relatively small investment and no additional data expenses. Once a lot of people get accustomed to that it will be impossible to ask for the high rates which are currently offered by operators.

So there is a lot of truth, when the article closes:

If the operators get their strategies wrong, there is no doubt that they will be the ones paying.