Mobile phone retail company Carphone Warehouse is rumoured to be planning a free broadband service in the UK. If this rings true, it would spell trouble for the various other broadband providers in the country, and could trigger a price war. CPW is looking into providing the services free to subscribers of its Talk Talk landline service.
The country’s broadband market is currently dominated by British Telecom, Wanadoo, AOL and NTL, with several minor players. But with news that CPW might be offering free broadband, this could shake up things in the market, and cause the dominant companies to lower rates.
The UK is among the countries with above-average rate of broadband penetration, with as much as 60% of households and businesses wired through high-speed connections. Traditional e-commerce services and other new multimedia business offerings (such as videoconferencing) rely heavily on the availability of broadband for fast delivery of intended services or features.