Telewest To Launch Britain’s First Unmetered Internet Service

A Net tariff war commenced yesterday as cable company Telewest announced plans to launch SurfUnlimited, a residential unmetered internet access service, for just £10 a month. When it is introduced on Valentine’s Day 2000 it will be the first unmetered service in the UK.

The news comes just one week after BT announced its own unlimited net access package at £34.99 per month, available to customers from Spring next year. Unlike the Telewest offer, however, this does not include an Internet Service Provider as part of the package, for which BT charges extra.

Available in all areas which fall under the Telewest franchise, the cable group’s offer will include access to the company’s ‘Cable Internet’ Internet Service Provider. Customers will need a Telewest telephone line, which costs £9 a month, to access the service and will agree to spend at least £10 a month with Telewest on other telephone call charges, in addition to time spent online though SurfUnlimited.

Chief executive of Telewest Tony Illsley said: “SurfUnlimited will be an unbeatable internet service that will remove the cost concern stopping many people from surfing the Net whenever they want and for as long as they want.”

The launch of SurfUnlimited will be combined with the unveiling of Telewest’s revamped Cable Internet Provider, which is being developed by Microsoft Networks. The new high-speed net access service has been anticipated for a long time (see Telewest And Microsoft Confirm High-Speed Internet Service) and is set to challenge BT’s ADSL offering (see BT Creates High-Speed Internet Lines). This is Telewest’s first product development by Microsoft, which has a 29.9% stake in the cable group.

Telewest Communications: 01483 750 900