A group of 17 of the world’s largest IT and telecommunications companies have thrown their weight behind a $1bn marketing campaign to promote Mobile Broadband as a “ready to run” system, making it easier to connect to the internet right after purchasing a laptop.

The advertising budget will be spent this year both online and offl to try to create Mobile Broadband as a well-known brand, in a similar way to microprocessor Intel’s “Intel Inside” campaign in the 1990s.