BT ADSL price plan plain wrong, says MD

BT's latest plan to encourage take-up of broadband ADSL services by bringing down prices misses the point because the real issue is lack of availability, according to a leading networking industry commentator.

While welcoming the announcement by BT Wholesale of the introduction of a new version of the DSL package that allows users to provide their own DSL modem, serial entrepreneur Bob Jones says that BT is still failing to tackle the root cause of the problem.

"It never seems to get through to BT that the poor take-up of DSL services is because of the woeful lack of availability, rather than price," says Jones, now managing director of internet server appliance leader Equiinet.

"And let's not forget that Britain's shamefully low standing in the broadband rollout league is almost entirely down to BT's anti-competitive and sluggish enabling of DSL," he added.

Jones says that a straw poll of employees at Swindon-based Equiinet revealed that less than 20 per cent could actually sign-up for BT's DSL service.

The 32 staff at Equiinet entered their home telephone numbers in the required box on the BTopenworld website, only to be told that ADSL was only available to six of them.

Jones says: "While hardly a bolt from the blue, this exercise clearlyillustrates what many in the industry have been saying for months."

See also:

BTopenworld cuts broadband costs

ADSL installation prices slashed in half  18 Sep 2001

ADSL for Beginners

Small businesses need high-speed internet access through ADSL services - so say the big telcos and internet service providers. But what is ADSL? We give you the basics in plain English.  22 Nov 2000

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