Jeff,
Well if the BBC think they can make a profit as a free ISP ther is no reason why X-stream cannot do the same. Each new entrant makes me think that X-stream have got the correct business model.
BBC launches freebeeb.net
Date: 03 Sep 1999 14:40:44
Service: AFX
LONDON (AFX) - The BBC reported that BBC Worldwide today launched its own free internet service provider (ISP), named freebeeb.net, to be financed by a combination of advertising and a share of telephone revenues.
The report said no public funds will be used, but any profits generated by the site will be channelled back into the BBC.
Subscribers will get a POP3 e-mail account, rather than a Web-based mail service, and 20 Mb of free site space for their own site. Calls to the helpline
will be charged at 60 pence per minute, it said.
It said CD-Roms will be available from High Street stores, including Dillons, One Stop, Paper Chain, Supercigs and T&S Stores PLC, and from post offices, and added that the software will also be promoted through Worldwide's range of magazines, starting with Radio Times.
The report cited BBC worldwide chief executive Rupert Gavin as saying: "We are expecting a further 10 mln users to be coming online over the next eight years. This is an expanding market."
"Our target is to attract in the low hundreds of thousands over the next
three years," he said, adding that freebeeb is expected to break into profit within two years.
The technology for freebeeb and on-going technical support will be provided by ScottishTelecom, a unit of Scottish Power PLC.
eva/ak
Regards
Jon C |
