AOL to Compete with BT for British Broadband Market

Telecom News Editorials Reports Glossary

12:22 am on January 23, 2006 | Category: Business, Web Services, Telecom Services

AOL has announced intentions to compete directly with BT in the British broadband market.

The company will do this by investing £50 million in local-loop unbundling (LLU), allowing it to directly control customers’ phone lines, and offer an in-house broadband internet service instead of simply reselling the BT offering.

At first, AOL plans to install equipment in 300 local exchanges throughout the UK. This will allow them to access about 20% of the country’s population with the new services. If demand is high enough, the internet giant will invest a further £70 million to unbundle 1000 more exchanges.

By creating a totally new service, independent of BT, AOL will increase the level of competition for high speed internet access throughout the UK, and hopefully introduce more competitive pricing for consumers.