BT to cut broadband costs

Cheaper broadband packages could be on the way following BT's decision to slash the cost of its wholesale pricing for high-speed net access. BT said it would cut the amount it charges other internet service providers by 9 per cent on 1 May, which could in turn allow the ISPs to charge consumers less. More than half of all UK adults now have a broadband connection, according to Ofcom’s latest Digital Progress Report, up from 39 per cent last year. BT said its reduced pricing will help ensure "the further growth of a competitive market for broadband services". As well as the proposed price cut, BT Wholesale said it is also aiming to introduce speeds of up to 24Mbps by the start of next year. Cameron Rejali, managing director for products and strategy at BT Wholesale said: "The new pricing will deliver significant cost savings to our service provider customers and underlines BT’s commitment to maintaining a competitive broadband market." "Service providers can also look forward to a nationwide service offering speeds of up to 24 Mbit/s which will start to be made available early next year as part of BT’s 21CN roll out. We will shortly start preparing our exchanges to support the delivery of these higher broadband speeds." However, some experts suggest ISPs may not choose to pass the wholesale price cuts on to its customers. Steve Weller of price comparison service uSwitch.com said that while some ISPs might drop prices, others may choose to invest the savings in their infrastructure. "Some ISPs may try to capture market share by dropping prices by £1 or £2. However, some ISPs that are investing in their own LLU (local loop unbundling) networks may choose to spend the money there," Weller told Web User. One ISP that has already declared its intention to invest in its network is Entanet. Carol Davies of Entanet said: “We decided rather than reduce our pricing for new activations and apply the cease charge to connections; we would maintain our current pricing model and absorb the new cease charge. “The net fall in cost to Entanet is just 14p per month. We have decided that, by keeping our prices for existing and new connections at the current level, we will use this gain to invest in our network.” http://www.bt.com/ http://www.enta.net/

More news via RSS Post item to Del.icio.us Post item to Digg.com