BT Wholesale is offering ISPs half price broadband connections as part of a limited promotion early next year.

The activation charge for the bog standard BT IPStream Home product will be cut from £50 to £25. While the charge for business broadband services in the BT IPStream S range will also be halved from £260 to £130.

And of course, since this is a wholesale offer it's up to ISPs to decide how much of that discount they intend to pass on to end users.

BT Wholesale says the move is prompted because it's "constantly looking at ways to help service providers stimulate the market for broadband".

A spokeswoman for AOL UK said it was to early to say whether the discount would be passed on although AOL currently charges £85 for a modem, filters, software and connection.

Likewise, Freeserve charges the same for its all inclusive starter kit.

BTopenworld, on the other hand, charges £85 for a modem and filters plus £65 for connection. Asked whether BT's ISP would be cutting the cost of its service a spokesman said they were "looking into it". ®