C&W launches internet service

Cable & Wireless has set up an internet service, charging users on a pence-per-minute basis for on-line access rather than a monthly subscription.

Internet Lite will give existing customers of C&W's cable telephone services access for 45 pence an hour, for a trial period until 30 November. After the trial, customers will pay 1.66p per minute at weekends, and 2.5p per minute on weekday evenings. Non-C&W customers will still be able to use the service for 2.95p per minute.

UK-based C&W is likening itself to internet service provider AOL, which offers its customers services aside from simple internet access. C&W is selling itself on offering lifetime access with the promise of 'an email address for life'. Members pay a one-off #10 subscription to C&W, and after that just connection charges.

Analysts are expecting other ISPs to look at pricing structures, following C&W's aggressive entry.

Meanwhile, Swedish telecom giant Ericsson is heading into the internet telephony market, according to sources close to the company.

The company talking to customers with a view to selling technology that transmits telephone calls over the Net, the sources added.

Internet telephone calls, once the domain of 'Net heads', are now being taken seriously by large corporates as a viable business option, according to analysts. This is primarily due to of improved quality.

Ericsson refused to be drawn on its possible business venture. 'We are continually looking at different markets,' said a repesentative.

Analysts have forecast a boom in the consumer internet telephony market.

According to market analysts Forrester Research, it is expected to hit $2.5 billion by the year 2004, up from $49 million now.