NTL's low-cost surfing

The UK's biggest cable operator, NTL, is reported to be preparing to slash the cost of high-speed access to the net.

It's going to shake up the whole market - broadband is the future

Cable customers could soon be offered 24-hour connection for as little as £5 a month, according to a report in the Mail on Sunday.

It says NTL is expected to cut its current charge of £39.99 a month in the New Year, after completing local trials.

If the report is true, the low-cost access would be bound to spark a price war in the telecoms market, hastening the development of broadband services.

Shake up

Broadband access allows customers always-on internet access and very high speeds for downloading.

The report quotes an "industry insider" as saying: "It's going to shake up the whole market - broadband is the future."

It also quotes research which suggests that money spent by users online soars when they have broadband access.

Pricing details

The report says the cheapest option being considered by NTL would cost subscribers £5 a month on top of the £9.25 a month fee for NTL's phone and digital TV package.

This would provide a 64kbps connection - slightly faster than the standard 56kbps dial-up modem - but they would also have to pay £150 for a cable modem.

A second deal is said to be £25 a month for a 512kbps connection, plus the cost of the cable modem.

NTL has spent £4.5bn over the past five years building up its network, which now covers about 30% of the UK population.

Criticism

The company is much in need of a boost after pulling out of a multi-million-pound deal to provide pay-per-view TV coverage of Premiership football.

It was also bitterly criticised earlier in the year for making promises in advertisements and failing to deliver.

The Advertising Standards Authority upheld complaints against NTL, and also Freeserve, about unmetered internet access offers.