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By Sally Watson, 15 March 1999 18:02

NEWS Telewest is rumoured to be close to introducing a one-off fee - covering subscription and unlimited call costs - for Internet access services. According to a report in UK newspaper, The Independent, the cable group - which offers television, telephony and Internet services - is said to be planning to abandon per-minute dial-up charges in favour of a comprehensive, 'all-you-can-eat' package comprising Net access and free online time. The introduction of high-speed cable modem technology, which allows an 'always on' service, is the catalyst for the move. Such a departure from standard pricing would likely please Oftel, the UK telecoms watchdog, which last week decided not to overhaul the current method for allocating call revenues, saying it expects users to benefit from a wide range of Internet access services instead. In addition to the free Internet service provider (ISP) model successfully embraced by Dixon's Freeserve and others, some ISPs are toying with services that offer free or very cheap call costs. Kingston Communications - the telco that owns a local loop service in the Hull area - is introducing a dial-up service that costs 5.5p per call, while X-Stream - an ISP that was subscription-free months before Freeserve - is now testing free access and dial-up every weekend in March. Analysts have predicted other ISPs will increasingly look to advertising and ecommerce, while there will always be online providers whose users value bespoke content and services, such as AOL's communities or CIX's conferencing facilities. A Telewest spokesman said: "We will launch high-speed data services by the end of the year, and while we haven't said what we'll be charging, the fact that they use the co-axial cable that carries the TV signal means it's very hard to charge on a per minute basis. But this will be a premium service, and that will be reflected in the price."