O2 has signalled the end of flat rate data charging in Europe, following AT&T’s recent announcement of the same policy in the US. The rapid growth in mobile data traffic and the high cost of building new network infrastructure make the end of flat rate charging inevitable. It was really a question of who would move first. The alternative, which I still expect to happen, but perhaps to a lesser extent that I previously thought would be more network mergers on the lines of the Uk Orange – T-Mobile merger. Expect others to follow O2’s example.