Comcast unveiled Xfinity Mobile, a new MVNO service which sees the US cable player pit itself against the country’s four largest operators in the increasingly competitive unlimited tariff segment.

The operator’s move into mobile, and unlimited, follows similar plays made by Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile US and Sprint. The cable company’s service will be available by mid-2017.

Comcast said it would offer unlimited data, talk and text for $65 per line, for up to five lines, or $45 per line for its customers already signed up to a premium Comcast X1 TV package. The cable player also offers users the option of paying $12 per GB of data, which it said adds flexibility to its packages.

A key feature of Xfinity Mobile is its access to Wi-Fi, and the service will allow users to switch between Comcast’s 16 million Wi-Fi hotspots and a mobile network operated by Verizon, according to Reuters.

The partnership is part of a 2011 agreement between the two companies.

Comcast put Wi-Fi at the heart of its messaging for Xfinity Mobile, stating: “up to 80 per cent of smartphone data traffic in the US travels over Wi-Fi, not cellular”.

Greg Butz, president of Comcast Mobile said the company was doing “mobile differently” and the product was designed to save consumers money “in an increasingly data driven world”.

“Mobility is more important than ever to consumers, so we’ve designed Xfinity Mobile the way mobile should be – a simple solution for internet and entertainment in and out of the home,” he said.