Alexander: Wants lower prices

He called on BT to cut the prices of getting high-speed Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technologies for consumers, businesses, and companies that want to resell the net services under their own banner.

Currently, BT offers DSL services to resellers through its wholesale division. To date, 180 companies, including BT Openworld, are reselling the DSL lines made available through this division.

Only days before Mr Alexander's comments, BT announced that it was halving the cost of installing DSL lines to homes and businesses until the end of the year. Installation now costs �75.

Despite the cut, installation costs of cable modems from NTL and Telewest are still cheaper.

Driving prices down

Mr Alexander said BT must cut internal costs to ensure prices are low when companies start paying for access to BT's exchanges to set up their own DSL services - a process called Local Loop Unbundling.

"We need the industry to be driving prices down, and driving demand up," said Mr Alexander. "BT has a particular responsibility here".

In making his assessment, Mr Alexander drew on a draft report by the Broadband Stakeholder Group, which was set up in March 2001.

The draft report said progress towards creating broadband Britain "has been slow" but it said that problems over the supply of DSL and cable modem access was not entirely to blame.

As much at fault were world economic conditions and questions by consumers about what they would do with a high-speed net connection.

Until the compelling reasons for subscribing to a broadband service become apparent, the government can promote its use by helping schools and local authorities to take up the services.