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BT keeps mum about ADSL pricing

But we know so make sure you're sat down when you read this

BT has published its wholesale rates for ISPs looking to offer broadband ADSL services in Britain. In a leaked report obtained by The Register BT will charge ISPs £1,065 a year for a 512kbit connection and £1,590 for a 2MB line. That works out at £90 a month for a 512kbit connection and £130 a month for 2MB line rental. All the figures quoted by BT are exclusive of VAT and do not include any mark-up by the ISPs to cover their overheads. One ISP looking at offering ADSL said privately that the "absolute minimum cost to the customer for a 512kbps line would be £150" which means the cost of a 2MB line could be well over £200 a month. A spokesman for BT said he was "unable to comment on commercially sensitive information". However, later this afternoon BT finally conceded that the information was accurate but stressed that these were the charges for the business end of the market and did not apply to home users. He maintained that the wholesale price it would charge ISPs for a domestic service would remain nearer £40 a month. Exact pricing details are scheduled to be published by the end of the year, he said. In July BT announced that London, Cardiff and Edinburgh were among ten cities earmarked to be equipped with ADSL technology by March 2000. It said the wholesale prices for service operators will range from around £40 to £150 per month. ®

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