Telewest cuts its broadband prices

Some good news for broadband customers at last

Telewest is slashing the price of its broadband service as it and other cable companies prepare to go head to head with British Telecommunications (quote: BT).

Experts agree that one of the biggest barriers to the much-hyped and talked about Broadband Britain will be price. Currently BT offers a service for £39.99 which analysts describe as too high to appeal to a mass market.

Although slow to roll out competing services, the cable companies have now more than matched BT on price. Ntl now offers a broadband cable modem service for £24.99 a month (cut to £19.99 if you buy the modem outright).

Now Telewest has cut its service from £33 a month to £25. Telewest has around 21,000 broadband customers to its Blueyonder service. Both the cable companies account for around 15 percent of the market and cover around 50 percent of the UK.

Cable modems offer speeds up to ten times faster than conventional narrowband modems.

Gavin Patterson, commercial director of Internet at Telewest believes its price cuts will make broadband "an accessible reality for as many customers as possible". "Broadband services are often hailed as the future of Internet access for British surfers but, unlike some other providers, we are providing Blueyonder broadband access right now," he said.

Is broadband coming to your neighbourhood? Find out with ZDNet UK's Broadband Britain Guide.

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