France Telecom SA has cut prices by as much as half for access to its consumer internet service provider, Wanadoo, in a bid to grab customers in France’s increasingly competitive ISP market. The price cuts came a day after telecom regulator L’ART sided with FT over interconnection prices for subscription-free ISPs, removing a prime revenue stream from the nascent services. It marks another attempt by the firm to subdue its ISP competitors before they become a threat.
L’ART has forced FT to allow rival ISPs access to its proposed 100F for 20 hours connection pricing package. However, the incumbent telco has yet to implement this plan, claiming it needs to consult further with the regulator before doing so. This stalling tactic, giving FT a chance to offer its new lower prices, strikes cynics as an attempt to insure the 100F/20H package is used by as many Wanadoo customers as possible.
Users of Wanadoo can now pay 0.45F ($0.07) per minute, down from 0.85F ($0.14) for both access and phone costs, or 75F ($11.95) per month for unlimited access excluding metered call costs, down from 95F ($15.12). The light-user service, where the subscriber pays 45F ($7.16) per month for three hours access, has been increased to six hours for the same price. The price for time over the six hours has been reduced from 19F to 15F ($3 to $2.39) with a 100F ($15.90) ceiling imposed.
The whole thing is reminiscent of the situation in the UK, where British Telecommunications Plc recently came under fire for delaying the transference of billing accounts from its own service to that of rival telco and ISP Localtel Ltd, which offers users free net calls evenings and weekends. Although the estimated 75,000 users have now been passed on to Localtel, it was not before BT launched its own rival service, where users get free weekend calls for a monthly subscription.
