BT slams Virgin's superfast broadband as too expensive

 

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By Stewart Mitchell

Posted on 28 Oct 2010 at 15:06

BT has laid into Virgin Media's plans to launch 100Mbits/sec broadband later this year, branding the offer as too expensive.

The superfast broadband arena is getting competitive – which can only be a good thing for Britain – and the gloves are off as the two leading providers spar in the lead up to 100Mbits/sec services.

“Their new service is more than twice the price of BT's fibre product and so we are surprised by the high price when most family budgets are tight," said BT. “Take up is as important as availability... so we would question why Virgin are charging such a premium.”

Virgin plans to start offering a 100Mbits/sec service later this year, with barebones services priced at £45 a month for the connection, or £35 if customers buy other services from the company.

BT has already started rolling out its Infinity fibre services, with a basic connection costing £20 a month, but price is only half the story.

BT's current offering at £20 is a Fibre-to-the-Cabinet service which offers “up to” 40Mbits/sec download speeds, and comes with a 40GB download limit. On a straight Mbit/pound ratio, Virgin's price looks competitive at 50p/Mbit.

Virgin also points out that cable customers don't need to pay BT line rental, which adds another £10 a month to telecoms bills.

It is unknown what BT plans to charge when it starts to roll out its 100Mbits/sec Fibre-to-the-Premises services, possibly as early as next year. Virgin's 50Mbits/sec costs £28 a month.

BT also couldn't resist making a dig at the fact that BT has to make its network available to rival ISPs throught its wholesale commitments.

The company agreed Virgin's offer would add competition for consumers on the network, “albeit a network that is isn’t open to other companies in the way BT’s is”.