British Telecommunications PLC
7 December 1999
BT ANNOUNCES PRICE PACKAGES
FOR UNLIMITED INTERNET ACCESS
BT is set to cut the cost of dial-up calls to the
Internet with the introduction of BT SurfTime - the widest choice
of retail pricing options for unlimited Internet access.
BT SurfTime will apply both to consumers and small
businesses in the UK.
In a significant breakthrough, BT SurfTime will
change radically the way Internet access is charged,
encouraging more people to get on-line. It will also
provide a further boost to businesses looking to take
advantage of e-commerce.
BT SurfTime, subject to satisfactory agreement
with Oftel, will be available from Spring next year - and
will consist of a range of unlimited usage packages for a
single monthly fee. They will be aimed at both heavy and
infrequent users of the Internet.
Customers of Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
offering subscription-based and/or 'pay-as-you-go' free
access services will be able to choose the pricing
package that best suits their surfing needs. Designed to
expand the market overall - now growing at more than 100
per cent a year - the BT SurfTime options will be:
* Weekend Internet option - a £6.99 per month charge
for unlimited access at the weekend plus any
applicable ISP subscription charge. On weekdays,
customers will be charged at only one penny per
minute evening and night-time and two pence per
minute during the day.
* Evening and night-time Internet option - a £6.99 per
month charge for unlimited access during the evening
and night-time, Monday to Friday, plus any
applicable ISP subscription charge. At weekends,
customers will be charged at only one penny per
minute and two pence per minute on weekdays.
* Daytime Internet option - a £26.99 per month charge
for unlimited access during the day, Monday to
Friday, plus any applicable ISP subscription charge.
Outside this period customers will be charged at
only one penny per minute.
* Anytime Internet option - a £34.99 per month charge
for unlimited access at anytime, day, evening and
night-time, and weekends, plus any applicable ISP
subscription charge.
* 'pay-as-you-go' Internet option - Internet calls
charge at one penny per minute evening, night-time
and weekend as well as two pence per minute during
the day, plus any applicable ISP subscription
charge.
In addition, ISPs charging a monthly fee can bill BT
customers through their BT account. This will be of
particular benefit to new and existing ISPs, which do not
have the resource to create and run their own billing
systems.
Bill Cockburn, group managing director of BT UK,
said: 'This is the most significant development for the
Internet in the UK. It has been made possible through a
major new network investment in addition to the hundreds
of millions of pounds we have already invested.
'It is the first time we have been able to tailor
packages and we believe it is a huge step towards
Internet for everyone while at the same time not
disadvantaging those that use the telephone in the
traditional way.
'Customers can be in full control of how much they
spend on-line and use whichever ISP they prefer. Existing
users can save money, and new customers should no longer
feel inhibited from using the Internet for reasons of
cost.'
BT SurfTime will also be available to customers on Home Highway
and ISDN lines. Full names of the options will be announced at launch.
All prices include VAT.
Note to Editors
BT has advised Oftel of these options and will seek
its agreement for a new number range to support them. BT
has agreed with Oftel that it will offer interconnection
products to enable other operators to provide similar
services. BT will also seek similar co-operation from
other licensed operators and Internet Service Providers
(ISPs). An industry forum chaired by Oftel is being set
up to work through the interconnection arrangements.
The Internet pricing options follow the company's
recent announcement of a new service provider tariff and
deployment of extra Internet Protocol (IP) dial ports as
well as its massive expansion plan for its IP backbone
network. They will be subject to availability.
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