BT is teaming up with Yahoo to offer a joint internet
and broadband services to UK customers in an effort to drum up
increased DSL (digital subscriber line) adoption.
The companies said that they plan to roll out a bundled BT Yahoo
Broadband service in September, which features a customised
browser, personalised homepage and a variety of other broadband
applications that have yet to be announced.
Also being developed is services that will make use of Yahoo's
instant messaging (IM) application Messenger, and would provide
features such as bolstered e-mail services and streaming news and
entertainment.
The offering comes as BT looks to further the roll-out of
broadband in the UK.
Separately BT said it hoped to amass five million broadband
customers by 2006, translating into £1bn of revenue annually, and
reaffirmed its financial targets for the coming quarters. BT boasts
about one million existing wholesale broadband users.
"As broadband moves to the mass market, it needs to offer
greater services, content and applications," said BT spokesman Tony
Henderson. "This offering with Yahoo lifts the whole broadband
experience."
The service will be priced the same as BT's Openworld broadband
offering at £29.99 a month, Henderson said, and Openworld customers
will be given the ability to migrate to the joint service in coming
months.
The companies will also offer a narrowband version of the
bundled service.
Scarlett Pruitt writes for IDG News Service