Telewest is flogging its cable broadband service for less than the price of unmetered dial-up access in a bid to attract new punters.

The special promo from the cableco starts on May 1. Monthly subscriptions to the blueyonder broadband service are just £13.48 for the first three months.

Telewest reckons this is the latest salvo in its "on-going mission to destroy barriers to broadband take-up".

In a statement David Hobday, S & M director at Telewest Broadband, said: "BT has made a big fuss over its belated wholesale ADSL price cuts recently, but we don't think they would have the broadband-nerve to offer customers such good value with an optional installation refund."

Whether BT Wholesale has the "broadband-nerve" to trump Telewest remains to be seen.

However, it should be noted that today's announcement is only relevant to the 4.3 million households (around one in five of the UK population) who live in Telewest's franchise areas. ®