Freeserve blames BT for DSL price hike

NEWS Freeserve plans to raise its price from £39.99 a month to £49.99, leaving consumers with a bill of £600 a year, as well as a connection charge of £150. But the ISP claims its hand has been forced by factors beyond its control. Freeserve said that it has "no confidence in BT, or the regulator, in driving down the wholesale price to a level which will facilitate large-scale take-up of broadband in the UK".
A statement issued today goes on to say that ISPs such as Freeserve and AOL are "currently reliant on wholesale services, via BT, to roll out ADSL and both have complained vociferously about the allocation process and the lack of service guarantees. "AOL has accused BT of holding back broadband Britain, and Freeserve is also convinced the current climate makes a wholesale ADSL product unworkable. Freeserve does not have any confidence in BT's allocation process for ADSL capacity, which has made it virtually impossible to plan an effective marketing strategy to create consumer demand." The price hike will not hit users until the end of May, and current users on 12-month contracts will not be affected, according to a company spokesperson. Freeserve's move comes weeks after BTopenworld said that it had stopped targeting the consumer market, thought to be due to a lack of uptake. Many UK ISPs have previously commented that because of the high prices BT Ignite maintains for broadband wholesale packages, the provision of a mass-market broadband package is difficult. Other countries in Europe seem to be surmounting the problem, however - German telco Deutsche Telekom has connected about 500,000 users, compared to BT with 55,000.