BT cuts wholesale ADSL pricing

BT announced on Friday that it is cutting the price of its wholesale ADSL package to £30 per month, a move that it claims will boost demand for broadband services in the UK.

The £5 cut in the price of IPStream 500, BT's wholesale ADSL product, will come into place on 1 September. The company says that it will help other operators -- who buy ADSL from BT -- to lower the cost paid by the end user. "This pricing initiative is part of BT Wholesale's ongoing commitment to stimulate demand for broadband services in the UK," said Paul Reynolds, chief executive of BT Wholesale, who added that BT was eager to continue playing its part in enabling "Broadband Britain".

According to its own figures, BT expects to have 1,000 ADSL-enabled exchanges set up by this September. It currently has 70,000 ADSL customers.

As well as this price cut, BT is also working on a self-installation DSL product. This would mean that an engineer wouldn't need to carry out work at a user's house -- speeding up the pace of ADSL rollout. This product is still at the trial stage.

However, it isn't all good news for BT. Friday's Financial Times revealed the poor progress made in local loop unbundling, where only 163 lines have been given to rival operators. Although BT claims that it is ready to give other companies access to its exchanges, some operators have denied that the process is that simple.

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