UK supermarket chain Tesco will announce the launch of a free ISP service this week, further increasing the pressure on paid-for internet access providers to look into new business models. It is expected the Tesco service will operate on the model carried off so successfully by Dixons, whose Freeserve ISP signed up its millionth customer last week after only 18 weeks in operation. WHSmith, Toys R Us and Barclay’s Bank are all understood to be interested in following Dixons lead. Tesco currently offers TescoNet, a paid-for internet access service and web portal, launched in 1998. Dixons Freeserve, which also operates its own web portal, is paid for by a small proportion of the charges for connections received by phone operator Energis.
