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By Mark Graham, 3 September 2001 18:48

NEWS BT Wholesale will halve its ADSL installation price from £150 to £75 from October, but rivals claim it's still not enough for them to achieve reasonable profits. From the beginning of September, BT will also permanently reduce its monthly rental charge on its IPStream 500 from £35 to £30. Ian Buckley, marketing manager from ISP Zen Internet admitted the price reduction "has helped", but he also stressed that "profit margins remain very small". "We're unable to compete directly with BT OpenWorld for example, which is able to resell ADSL at a loss, but we'll continue to pressure BT over its pricing," he said. However, Bruce Stanford, BT Wholesale Broadband director, told silicon.com that the price reduction had nothing to do with pressure from rivals: "It is merely part of our marketing plan," he said. Chris Panayis, managing director for Freedom2Surf, said: "At least it [the installation price reduction] is a positive trend," but went on to say that it was his understanding that BT is only offering the reduced rate for a three- month period up to Christmas. In response, BT's Bruce Stanford said today's announcement is a "bridge" to BT Wholesale's 'self-install' offering, which he claims will be available early in the new year. He said trials had already started and the service, which he called "ADSL in a box", will cut out the need for the provision of equipment and reduce added costs, as BT engineers will no longer be needed.