Posted: 06th Sep, 2003 By: MarkJ
One of Ovum's broadband analysts has stated that BTOpenworlds decision to slash the monthly cost of its Business Plus ADSL service is unlikely to spark a price war:
Tim Johnson, a broadband analyst at Ovum, said that rival internet service providers (ISPs) do not have the resources to slash prices.
He suggested that most future competition will come from the take up of symmetric digital subscriber line (SDSL) services, rather than switching to cheaper ADSL connections. SDSL has the benefit of providing users with the same level of bandwidth upstream as well as downstream.
"I don't see this starting a price war," Johnson told vnunet.com. "Business customers are not so price sensitive, and ISPs can argue that by offering additional services it is worth paying an extra £10 or so. The only way I can see a price war is if an ISP other than BT decides to cut costs, but I don't see this happening as ISPs don't have the margins to cut costs."Huh? Since when were businesses "
not so price sensitive"? It wasn't long ago that some research showed companies choosing cheaper ADSL over SDSL because of cost. More @
VNUNet.