BT go to war with TalkTalk over business broadband
March 4, 2009 at 2:51 pm
A price war has begun between BT and TalkTalk after they both recently launched their new small business broadband services at exactly the same time.
The simultaneous release was completely by chance, according to the companies, but now it seems that they have been thrust into a war that neither side can back out of.
BT’s price slash refers to the Option 3 package, which it slashed from £40.50 to £30, making a 35% cut along with free mobile broadband thrown in. Meanwhile, Opal, which is the business branch of TalkTalk, launched its own £7 business broadband service providing speeds of up to 24Mbps.
BT was “not surprised” by the release of a rival package, but accepted that it was a coincidence. The company is hoping to increase the services it can offer to this large sector of the market to increase its dominance. Meanwhile, Opal is looking for 20% of the market.
The temperature has increased following rival announcements from the two companies seeming to contradict each other. Opal announced that its new service was 40% less than BT’s broadband package, but a fuming BT responded by saying that it was not a fair comparison seeing as its own service provided a lot more for the money.
Opal wondered why BT had waited so long to put its prices down, with the managing director, Paul Lawton, stating that their customers “will be left asking how much money the company was making” before the cut.
This is all great news for small businesses, but we will have to wait to see who comes out top in this broadband war.
