BT Group PLC
02 April 2003
April 2 2003
RADICAL PRICING CHANGES MAKE BT
UP TO 20 TIMES CHEAPER THAN MAIN RIVALS
BT is challenging its fixed-line competitors head-on by offering customers
national evening and weekend calls up to 20 times cheaper than its major rivals.
The huge savings are part of a radical new pricing structure for the successful
BT Together scheme which sees the end of per-minute charging for all evening and
weekend calls and makes distance irrelevant, with one rate for UK and local
calls.
This means BT Together customers will pay just 6p for up to an hour on all
evening and weekend calls made to anywhere in the UK. If the number is one
nominated under the Friends and Family scheme, the cost of the call will be
reduced by an extra 10 per cent.
Customers switching from rivals Telewest will save money every time they pick up
the phone, while savings will be made against the current rates of ntl and
One.Tel on all national calls lasting more than a minute. Thirty-minute and
one-hour national evening calls with One.Tel cost 78p and £1.53, compared with
just 6p under BT Together. And a single 10-minute national evening call using
Car Phone Warehouse costs 13 pence more.
Angus Porter, managing director of BT Retail's consumer division said: "We are
determined to be competitive and build on our position as the consumer champion
in fixed-line telephony. We have kept our market share constant for the past two
years in the face of increasing competition. This radical move provides the
simplicity and lower charges that will give customers stronger reasons than ever
to choose BT over any other company in the market.
"Claims by some competitors of savings over BT are often just plain misleading,
as they are based on comparisons with our standard rate, which is only for
customers for whom it would not be economic to be on a fixed call package.
Today's changes make it simpler for many customers to spot the real deal.
"Our offer of 6p for all evening and weekend calls up to an hour virtually
removes the need to compare our prices with other operators. What you see is
what you get, with no need to think about any other items like call connection
charges. Just consider that Telewest charges the same amount to connect a call
as BT Together customers will pay for an hour. And the cost of a good gossip,
say half-an-hour's chat with friends or relatives in another part of the UK at
the weekend, will be substantially cheaper with BT Together. With BT, that chat
will cost 6p, while British Gas will charge 45p, Carphone Warehouse, 57p, and
the Post Office, £1.08."
The existing BT Together options have been streamlined to give the company's 10
million existing customers three simple-to-understand options - each geared to
their level of phone use:
• Option 1, the 6p hour plan - customers will pay a flat rate of 6p for up
to an hour on all evening and weekend local and national calls. Daytime
calls will be charged at 3p a minute, a 25 per cent saving on the previous
price for national calls;
• Option 2, the evening and weekend plan, offers the first hour for free on
all evening and weekend local and national calls. The charges for daytime
calls will be the same as for Option 1;
• Option 3, the anytime plan, offers the first hour free on all UK calls at
any time of day.
Each of the three options will have a fixed monthly fee that reflects the level
of usage. Option 1 will cost £11.50 a month; Option 2, £17.50 and Option 3,
£28.50.
The new options, which are to be introduced on June 1, are a direct response to
over a million BT customers who replied to the UK's biggest-ever survey of
customer opinion, which revealed a strong desire for lower, less-complicated
call charges and greater certainty over their phone bills.
Porter added: "We believe these three new options represent excellent
value-for-money and will not only be popular with our existing customers but
will attract large numbers of new customers to BT."
ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Jon Carter, BT Retail press office 020 7356 4523
Mike Jarvis, BT Retail press office 020 7356 6045
Editors Notes:
BT Together's three new options: call rates will now depend on when you use your
phone, and not on where you are calling:
Monthly fee incl. rental Daytime call rate Evenings and Weekends call
of one line and VAT, with rate
Direct Debit or Monthly 8am-6pm
Payment Plan (otherwise £1 6pm-8am Evenings and all
more) Weekend (incl. VAT)
Option 1 £11.50 3p per minute 6p
The 6p hour plan (5p minimum charge) for up to an hour per call
*
Option 2 £17.50 3p per minute No charge
The Evening and Weekend (5p minimum charge) for up to an hour per call
plan *
Option 3 £28.50 No charge No charge
The anytime plan for up to an hour per for up to an hour per call
call** *
* Every minute over an hour for evening and weekend calls will be charged at 1p
per minute.
** Every minute over an hour for daytime calls under Option 3 will be charged at
3p per minute.
Customers can redial as often as they like.
The tables below show how costs compare for five minute, 30 minute and just
under one hour calls. As these tables show, none of the selected competitors can
beat BT Option 1 over all three call-duration periods.
Local Evening calls
Table shows cost of the 5mins 30mins 59mins 59secs How many times BT is
call in pence for 3 cheaper at the hour
different call lengths mark
BT Option 1 6 6 6 n/a
ntl 15 65 125 21
Telewest 16 66 126 21
One.Tel 8 33 63 11
SkyTalk 5 30 60 10
Carphone Warehouse 5 29 57 9
Local Weekend calls
Table shows cost of the 5mins 30mins 59mins 59secs How many times BT is
call in pence for 3 cheaper at the hour
different call lengths mark
BT Option 1 6 6 6 n/a
ntl 10 35 65 11
Telewest 11 36 66 11
One.Tel 8 33 63 11
SkyTalk 5 30 60 10
Carphone Warehouse 5 29 57 9
National Evening calls
Table shows cost of the 5mins 30 mins 59mins 59secs How many times BT is
call in pence for 3 cheaper at the hour
different call lengths mark
BT Option 1 6 6 6 n/a
ntl 15 65 125 21
Telewest 16 66 126 21
One.Tel 16 78 153 25
SkyTalk 10 60 120 20
Carphone Warehouse 10 57 114 19
National Weekend calls
Table shows cost of the 5mins 30 mins 59mins 59secs How many times BT is
call in pence for 3 cheaper at the hour
different call lengths mark
BT Option 1 6 6 6 n/a
ntl 10 35 65 11
Telewest 11 36 66 11
One.Tel 16 78 153 25
SkyTalk 5 30 60 10
Carphone Warehouse 10 57 114 19
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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