A recent UK indoor smoking ban may hurt big tobacco's bottom line. But it's apparently a windfall for Orange.

According to Cellular News, the service provider's network has seen an additional 7.5 million more texts sent over the past two weeks, as the smooking ban took effect.

A hilarious theory no doubt, explained with statements like "many people are also texting friends for support as they try to give up."
Yet if anyone can conclusively prove the link between smartpohone or PDA usage and smoking bans, I imagine the big networks will start spending mad money to lobby for more smoking bans.

And the best thing is that such profit-oriented activity, if implemented and based on good reasons, has the perfect cover. "We're very interested in our customers' health, which is why we are pushing for a more general smoking ban."