Sky Broadband has been launched and will be free to existing BSkyB customers. Services up to and including 2Mbps will be gratis but premium services ranging up to 16Mbps will only be available at a premium. The premium price looks incredibly reasonable with 8Mbps costing only a fiver and the 16Mbps costing a tenner a month - though added to at least £20 per month Sky subscription it's slightly less impressive. The premium services are uncapped whereas the free service has a 2GB download limit.
In case you were wondering, the introduction of free broadband from Sky isn't an act of philanthropy but will achieve a number of things for the corporation. The lure of 'free' services will not only create a new broadband customer base but eat into other existing broadband providers' market share with current subscribers switching to Sky's service. Sky will be no doubt also hoping it'll drive sales of their existing products as part of a total home set-up - so expect to see a VOIP service in the near future.
With so many companies trying to stake their claim for what BT call 'Total Broadband' services it'll be interesting to see how the battle commences. Already many 'free' broadband services are becoming available, indeed my latest phone bill informed me that if I sign up for another year I'll be eligible for broadband. From the consumer's point of view this is great news as increased competition invariably leads to cheaper prices.
Thanks Informitv.com
