The price is right for UK Online customers

UK Online has fired the next shot in the price war over the cost of broadband internet access by dropping its monthly charge to under £10.

The 512 kbps uncapped service seriously undercuts its competitors. With recent figures showing over five million people now having a broadband connection, it looks certain to spark further upheavals in the broadband market.

Internet service providers (ISPs) are already battling to come up with cheaper, faster and more innovative services and products to differentiate themselves from their competitors.Other ISPs are expected to follow UK Online's lead over the coming months.

The reason UK Online, which is currently also offering an 8Mbs service can undercut rivals such as BT and AOL is because it has migrated to what is known as local loop unbundling (LLU). This companies other than BT access to the cable from the local telephone exchange to the premises of the customer and is sometimes also called 'the last mile'.

This has also allowed the ISP to cut the price of its LLU-based unlimited 2Mb broadband, to £19.99 per month, with its flagship 8Mb - the fastest home broadband service available in the UK - at just £29.99 per month.

"This is going to spark a big price war among providers, in what is already a highly competitive area," said Dylan Armbrust, editor of Computeractive.

"These days a broadband connection is the same price as a dialup one, so a lot more people are switching over, and £10 is a really important price point for consumers," he added.

See also:

8Mbps broadband promised by Christmas

ISPs in trials to deliver super-fast ADSL to homes and businesses  21 Apr 2005

DSL and cable to offer 20Mbps broadband

Battle for home broadband centres on 'triple play' voice, data and video  14 Apr 2005

Like this story? Spread the news by clicking below:

 del.icio.us     Digg this     reddit!