O2 high speed broadband stuck in the garage

Bungled bundle

By Chris Williams • Get more from this author

Posted in Networks, 17th May 2007 14:21 GMT

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O2 has been forced to delay integrating its ISP business into a bundle package again, this time until at least September.

The mobile operator said it was still not ready to roll out a converged bundle. It missed its last launch date for broadband in January, saying June would be the target.

O2 paid £50m for Be* last year. The ISP's play is to install gear in exchanges when it unbundles them, ramping theoretical maximum ADSL speeds to 24Mbit/s. By September it'll only cover half the population.

O2 has always been cautious about its broadband entry, having witnessed the endless list of technical cockups by Orange, Carphone Warehouse and others. O2 chief executive Peter Erskine said: "The one thing I will not do is launch something that isn't ready. We have learned from the mistakes of some of our rivals."

On the flipside, Sky's broadband launch has been a huge success, rapidly winning market share with few grumbles. ®

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