BT Infinity fiber-based broadband prices set

JANUARY 22, 2010 -- BT Retail has revealed the pricing for its new broadband service, BT Infinity. The new consumer service uses fiber-optic technology to offer download speeds of up to 40 Mbps at a base price well below that of Virgin Media, the carrier asserts.

BT Retail says it will offer the 40-Mbps rate for “as little as” £19.99 per month (a price offered when the subscriber also takes a BT line rental that costs from £11.54 per month), which it says is £7.47 less than what Virgin Media charges for its XXL highest speed service. Upstream speeds, at up to 10 Mbps, will be the fastest in the UK and more than 6X faster than Virgin Media’s fastest service, BT Retails adds. However, this upload speed currently is only available on a service tier that costs £24.99 monthly.

Customers in Muswell Hill, Whitchurch, and Glasgow Halfway have had access to the higher speeds through a BT trial. BT says the new service will be made available to 4 million homes and businesses by the end of this year, following the roll out of the technology by Openreach, BT’s local access division. (See "BT to expand footprint for UK's fastest broadband")

The announcement is part of BT’s longer-term program to make “super fast” broadband available to at least 40 percent of the UK, some 10 million homes and businesses, by the summer of 2012. The company has pledged to spend £1.5 billion to roll out fiber to the cabinet (FTTC) and fiber to the premises (FTTP) services.

BT is also launching a new broadband service for businesses that will be known as BT Business Total Broadband Fibre.

BT will begin availability of both the high-speed broadband services to BT Total Broadband and BT Business customers in enabled exchange areas beginning January 25.

A table describing the full service and prices is available on the BT website.