The service, costing £39.99 per month, has cost BT more than
£250 million in the development of the technology, which BT claims
is 10 times faster than the packages offered by its rivals.
ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) is a technology for
transmitting digital information at high bandwidth on existing
phone lines to homes and businesses. Unlike regular dial-up phone
services, ADSL provides a continuously-available, "always on"
connection.
The company expects the service to become available to 70% of
the UK population by late 2001.
BT is hoping the launch will help deflect recent concerns about
the company’s level of debt, having recently agreed to buy
expensive third generation mobile phone (or 3G) licences in both
the UK and Germany. The company is also facing rumours of possible
legal action by other ISPs that claim BT has failed to make
available wholesale unmetered dial-up internet access services in
accordance with demands made in May by Oftel, the UK’s
telecommunications watchdog. To date, BT has only confirmed one
such package, with MCI Worldcom.
Shares in Freeserve rose on Friday as a result of rumours that
it might link up with a rival telecom company to offer a competing
ADSL package. Despite the rise, Freeserve is expected to be dropped
from the FTSE 100 share index when it undergoes its quarterly
review this week.
