Hard on the heels of the Office of Telecommunications’ new pricing formula, British Telecommunications Plc has announced reduced charges for its primary rate ISDN 30 service. The connection charge is to drop by 34% to UKP3,025 from UKP4,582, while the charge for additional channels is to fall by 67% to UKP58.67 from UKP152.75. Another pricing change designed to encourage take-up is the new Spare Capacity Charge. The connection charge is UKP950 if there is spare capacity on an existing cable into the customer’s premises, on an underused Megastream line, for example. Telecom estimates that this will affect up to 35% of customers wanting the ISDN 30 service. However it cannot use these cuts as part of its fulfillment of Oftel’s harsher-than-expected price control formula since ISDN is not included in the basket of services on which the controls apply. Simultaneously the company announced that it is enhancing the ISDN 30 service by adding call diversion when engaged, and later in the summer, improved service options. These take the form of BT’s TotalCare package, which guarantees users a four hour response throughout the year. The Prompt Care service (which gives the same callout time but only from 8am to 6pm six days a week) is already included in ISDN 30 rental charges. As soon as British Telecom announced the price cuts, Mercury Communications Ltd issued a statement saying that it was still cheaper than its rival. It claims that with its 2100 Premier service, connection charges are 9% cheaper, and that it undercuts Telecom by 8% on additional lines.
