Re: UKNM: Not long now - free bt calls?

[John Lundberg]

Free BT calls on the horizon?


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"BT may offer free Internet calls

By Mary Fagan and Mark Court


BT is poised to revolutionise the internet by offering totally free net

access with no call charges. The move, which will need regulatory approval,

would grab the initiative away from companies such as Dixons' Freeserve.


Under the secret plans, said to be at an early stage, BT is expected to

offer internet access using a "freephone" number. Calls to the net would be

made over their existing BT telephone line and, according to City analysts,

customers would pay only a marginal increase in the normal monthly line

rental charge.


Until last year, internet users paid a monthly fee for internet access,

plus local call charges when they dialled up. Then the monthly fee was

swept away by Freeserve's entry into the market. Now BT is promising to

abolish the phone charges which can amount to hundreds of pounds a month

for heavy internet users.


BT is said to be in talks with Oftel, the telecoms watchdog, about the

plan. David Edmonds, Oftel's director general, would need to be convinced

that there would be no cross-subsidy for the service from BT's other

services. But one analyst pointed out that BT already provides transparent

accounting designed to prevent cross-subsidy.


"BT could probably make it pay through advertising revenues and deals with

content providers. But there will no doubt be some who will see this as the

big monopoly trying to protect its market share," he said.


One observer commented: "BT is playing with fire. BT's call volumes have

shot up because of internet use. If they move to effectively free internet

call charges, they could be giving away something quite valuable. In time

people will also ask why they have to pay for local call charges when they

can do internet access for free over the same telephone line." BT's plans

could wreck the prospects for Freeserve, which is considering a stock

market flotation.


A completely free service from BT, including both phone calls and internet

service provision, would be popular and would be likely to lead many

Freeserve users to switch over."



>From Electronic Telegraph:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=001671154955568&rtmo=0XsXKx0q&atmo=99999999&pg=

/et/99/5/23/cnbt23.html


Later,

John



 john lundberg:                   developmental:

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  http://www.developmental.co.uk

 tel:       +44 (0) 171 249 3172  fax:      +44 (0) 870 054 8748


 [   for too long creation has been a slave to rational time   ]


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