AOL says UK prices will stay the same

America Online in the US earlier this week announced prices were going up from $19.95 to $21.95 per month's unlimited access but UK managing director Jonathan Bulkeley said today that local prices won't go up in 1998.

"We won't be raising prices," said Bulkeley. "You can never say never but it won't happen this year."

That said, Bulkeley said that AOL also won't be cutting prices either, although some rivals have taken that tack.

"The £10-per-month people ain't cutting it in terms of maintaining profit and building infrastructure. We're trying to build infrastructure and network capacity because usage is just going through the roof."

Bulkeley said AOL passed 350,000 users in the UK two weeks ago, adding 50,000 users in just eight weeks - its fastest ever rate of 50,000-user growth here.