Freeserve targets AOL and BT
Freeserve customers will be able to sign up for the Internet service provider's new unmetered access package from Wednesday, the ISP has announced. Freeserve AnyTime allows for 24-hour access at a flat rate of £12.99 a month, undercutting AOL's £14.99 offer.
British Telecommunications' (quote: BT) BTinternet is set to offer a similar package as early as this week, at the same price as AOL.
Freeserve's current unmetered offer charges £10 per month, but is being operated at a loss and does not allow 24-hour connectivity. AnyTime is based on Friaco (Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination), a wholesale unmetered package from BT that is only now becoming available. AOL's flat-rate service is also based on Friaco.
John Pluthero, Freeserve's chief executive, said the new product would knock competitors "into a cocked hat". Many competitors have already been wiped out by the sluggish approach of unmetered, however, with ISPs such as RedHotAnt and Breathe.com rushing out loss-making unmetered services which helped them into bankruptcy.
AOL says its own unmetered plan has signed on several hundred thousand users since launch in September. The product was extended nationwide in November. A spokesman said once Friaco is widely used by ISPs, consumers will gravitate to strong brands. "It makes the telephone part of Internet access irrelevant," he said. "When consumers make their choice (of ISP), it will be on brand, rather than pricing."
British ISP Freeserve is in the midst of a takeover by France Telecom's Wanadoo, which received approval from the Office of Fair Trading Tuesday.
How can you get online for less? Find out in the Unmetered Access Special.
It's not hard to predict that most ISPs are going to be out of business within six months. Guy Kewney fears we're in for a backlash, and the bad news could be that a lot of people will perceive the Internet itself as having "failed." Go to AnchorDesk UK for tbe news comment.
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