High UK Net call costs are hurting Intel

A senior executive at Intel has admitted privately that the high cost of dial-up access in Britain is "hurting" the chip company. He was speaking after a panel of Net industry professionals -- including execs from Intel -- were put on the spot about the cost of net access in Britain. Both John Woodget and Gordon Graylish of Intel declined to berate BT for its pricing structure deciding instead to take a more diplomatic tone. This is despite the fact that Intel held a secret meeting with the telco's arch foes, the Campaign for Unmetered Telecommunications (CUT). Intel's publicly diplomatic stance is in sharp contrast to that of AOL Europe which is stepping up its campaign against BT. This week Andreas Schmidt, AOL Europe's president and CEO, urged business leaders to unite behind the company's campaign against the high cost of metered Internet telephone calls in the UK. Schmidt said that the continuing low levels of Net usage in the UK undermined the government's vision of the country being at the centre of the European ecommerce revolution. ®