A British MP Wednesday dropped an intriguing hint that several UK telcos are just weeks away from announcing flat-rate unmetered internet access on a 24/7 basis, a pricing strategy unavailable anywhere in the UK except the city of Hull. The revelation, which has been denied by most of the big telco players, came during a 30-minute debate on telecommunications pricing and internet access in the House of Commons.
MP Steve Webb questioned government minister Ian Bruce MP on the issue of metered telephone calls, which is how the majority of consumers in the UK access the internet. Webb claimed that the gap in use of the web between the US and UK could largely be put down to the ‘ticking clock’ experienced by users, and that the government should regulate to stimulate net growth. Webb pointed to the net boycott carried out across Europe last weekend as evidence of how strongly users feel about the issue.
Responding, Bruce expressed his view that the competitive market would quickly give consumers a better deal, claiming he had hspoken to several telcos this week, saying: within weeks – literally – we shall receive announcements from several sources about fixed fee, online all the time, to an internet provider.
British Telecommunications Plc which launched a weekend-only fixed-fee unmetered service last week, would seem to be the obvious candidate for such a move, but BT denies it is the source of Bruce’s claims, as have Cable & Wireless Communications Plc and NTL Inc.
