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By Ben King, 29 January 2001 08:00

NEWS The telco's Pocket Net Office service, based on the high-speed GPRS standard, is only available to a select group of business clients. Most of them had been under non-disclosure agreements. But silicon.com has now learned of the prices BT Cellnet is really charging. The service was launched in June 2000 with a single tariff of £45 per month, with only a notional limit on data downloads. The company introduced a three-tier pricing structure in January 2001, with monthly rates of £65 for 50Mb of downloaded data, £45 for 20Mb, and a rate of around £30 for 5Mb. Call rates are slightly cheaper for the 'bearer service', which features only the GPRS connection without BT Cellnet's suite of applications. Stuart Newstead, general manager of wireless data services at BT Cellnet, denied that it was a move to restrict usage, or that BT Cellnet's GPRS network was at risk of supply problems. The rates are considerably more expensive than those announced by VIAG Interkom for low-volume users. However, for users in the high-value band they are cheaper. Downloading 50Mb a month using VIAG's GPRS service would cost around £150, while downloading 5Mb a month would cost £20. Thorsten Wichmann, CEO of German internet research company Berlecon, said: "Both rates are more expensive than Japan's i-mode service, and even more expensive when you take Japan's higher cost of living into account." BT's GPRS network is currently offered exclusively to business customers, with a roll-out to consumers expected in "spring-summer 2001".