As predicted, British Telecommunications Plc has now launched its UK public Frame Relay service – but has still not fixed a UK or French domestic tariff. The service is available to domestic subscribers but, according to a spokesman, the tariff, for the time being, is to be decided on an individual basis. Asked when the price would be set, the same spokesman said that he was unable to give a date by which British Telecom’s pricing boards would have completed their ruminations. The service is available now in the UK and France, and will become available in the Netherlands and Germany in a month or two. Announcing the availability of the service from the US, the company has also said that it is considering increasing the access speed from 56Kbps or 64Kbps to anything up to 1.544Mbps. This follows criticism that BT’s Frame Relay service is significantly slower than the competition. BT also announced what the tariffs for the service will be internationally: these cover installation and unlimited usage. Variance in international line charges is the reason for the different tariffs: domestic access in the US costs $2,100 per month; worldwide access to the US is $2,700; to the UK UKP2,335; and France $4,100.
