Wanadoo Slashes Prices For Broadband Users
French-owned internet giant Wanadoo has slashed the price of its standard broadband package to less than £20 per month in a move that will heap further pressure on rivals to lower the cost of their own high-speed offerings.
The company, which changed its name to Wanadoo from Freeserve earlier this year, will offer its one megabit broadband service for £17.99 per month, but will impose a limit on the amount of data users can download.
The new pricing comes as the company prepares to launch several connection-hungry products such as its Livebox and television streaming service. Wanadoo customers will need the increased speed in order to access the new services, a problem which the company is clearly attempting to address with its latest price reductions.
However, with an infrastructure already in place, Wanadoo stands a far greater chance of enticing new customers with increased products and is clearly hoping for a ready made audience when the services become available later this month (see Wanadoo To Offer Customers TV Content On Demand).
Commenting on the latest push for high-speed customers, Eric Abensur, Wanadoo’s chief executive, said: “The UK broadband market is already undergoing exponential growth and with this new offer, we expect it to take off even further.”
He added: “We are bringing one megabit to everybody who is able to receive it at an affordable price. We believe one megabit is a basic right for all internet users, so everyone can enjoy the benefits of faster browsing and downloading, higher quality sound and video, and the enhanced online experience that one megabit broadband provides.”
Wanadoo’s revised pricing makes its service amongst the cheapest in the country on a price-for-speed comparison, £12 per month cheaper than an equivalent package from BT. However, tariffs are difficult to compare directly, as the two providers impose different downloading allowances on their customers.
A furious battle for broadband users has erupted in recent months, with BT announcing the creation of both satellite broadband services and long distance broadband services to extend the reach of its current network to more rural and remote areas of the country (see Broadband Reach Grows To A Further One Million UK Homes).
AOL has also fuelled the continuing price war by cutting the cost of its broadband packages for home users to below the £20 mark. The company is understood to be planning a system to deliver television and film content to PC screens via broadband, a service which could steal Wanadoo’s thunder if beaten to the marketplace (see AOL Raises The Stakes In Broadband Price War).
Wanadoo: 0870 872 0099 www.wanadoo.co.uk
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