O.T. - more free Internet access (in England). Will anything ever make AOL's stock price come back to near a QCOM valuation level ?
March 27, 1999
Prudential to Offer Free Internet Access
By BLOOMBERG NEWS
LONDON -- Prudential Plc, Britain's largest insurer, said on Friday that
it would start a free Internet access service so that users can use its
financial services online. The Microsoft Corporation will provide
content such as news and business information.
The service, starting next month, employs Virtual Internet Provider Ltd., a
venture of Cisco Systems Inc., Fujitsu-owned ICL Plc, Softbank Corp. and
Cable & Wireless Communications Plc, for technology and
telecommunications support.
The move follows that of other British companies such as retailer Dixons
Group Plc, which are providing free Internet access to attract users to its
Web site from where it can sell products and generate advertising revenue.
By offering free access first, Prudential gets a head start on its banking and
insurance rivals and bolsters its telephone and Internet banking venture, Egg,
which competes with the Royal Bank of Scotland Plc's Direct Line and
Midland Bank Plc's First Direct.
"The aim is become a leading electronic commerce player,'' said Richard
Duvall, Egg's director of electronic commerce. Prudential expects Egg, on
which it will spend about 100 million pounds ($162 million) this year, to be
profitable by 2001.
Copyright 1999 The New York Times Company |
