Mobile broadband customers belonging to 3 have been offered two months free rental after the company was forced to apologise for the recent disruption to its services.

Subscribers in certain areas have been hit as 3's 3G mobile broadband network encounters problems, reports Mobile News.

The company says it believes to see a restoration of connections soon and has apologised in writing to those affected.

This year, T-Mobile and 3 set up Mobile Broadband Network Limited (MBNL), which aims to provider mobile broadband users in every area of the UK with 3G coverage by 2010.

The two providers hope that the decision to share their infrastructure will help cut costs and improve coverage for customers.

"We are now moving ahead with the consolidation of cell sites with the objective of achieving scale and integrating quickly and smoothly," Emin Gurdenli, technology director at T-Mobile UK, told The Institution of Engineering and Technology.