A Year Ago: BT to enter Web TV race

British Telecom (BT) will enter the Web TV market this year amid plans that it is also co-developing a low cost ASDL modem with Microsoft, Compaq and Intel.

The telecoms giant has confirmed that it intends to be a major force in Internet broadcasting although has dismissed ideas that it will make moves to enter mass market TV.

BT is the first European communications company to join the Universal ADSL Working Group (UAWG) which is trying to forge a standard for DSL Lite.

DSL Lite, a lower cost development of ADSL technology, is intended to work up to 30 times faster than most existing modems but will operate on an existing copper telephone network. It will be compatible with the standardised ADSL line cards which BT is planning to install in exchanges. The technology is expected to be readily available by 2002.