The BBC is the latest to launch a UK subscription-free ISP. As is normal dman, there is no mention of X-Stream.
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BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation, on Thursday launched Britain's latest subscription-free Internet service provider in association with Scottish Telecom.
BBC Worldwide Chief Executive Rupert Gavin told reporters the new concern, freebeeb.net, should be profitable in the second year of operation and attract "hundreds of thousands" of users over its first three years.
"BBC Worldwide magazines are read by more than a quarter of the UK population and this activity will ensure we help to get the whole nation online," said David Atter, freebeeb.net marketing director.
"It is a powerful incentive to the millions of households with PCs that are not yet connected to the Internet."
Freebeeb.net, which the BBC hopes will raise revenues partly from a proportion of phone charges and advertising, joins a growing number of media and telecoms groups, retailers banks and soccer clubs in offering consumers the chance to surf the Internet without paying a monthly fee.
Its partner, Scottish Telecom, is the telecommunications subsidiary of Scottish Power Plc which owns one of Britain's largest dial-up service providers, Demon Internet.
Scottish Telecom will provide the network technology on which the service will run.
Other Internet publishers criticised the launch of the BBC's service, arguing it will distort the market and stifle competition.
The British Internet Publisher's Alliance said that with more than 100 free ISPs already operating in the UK, there was no need for yet another from the publically funded BBC.
The public service broadcaster first dipped its toe into virtual waters with the 1996 launch of beeb.com, a commercial online publishing venture with technology partner ICL, the Fujitsu-owned IT group.
The model of so-called "free" ISPs -- where consumers tend to pay local call charges while they are online and premium rates for customer support -- was pioneered by Freeserve Plc, the start-up launched by electrical retailer Dixons Plc.
Freeserve, which floated in July, has become Britain's most popular Internet service provider with more than 1.3 million active accounts. |
