BT announces new pricing schemes

BT announced today what it describes as "radical" pricing changes to one of its residential telephony services, BT Together. The telco says national evening and weekend calls are up to 20 times cheaper than its rivals - chiefly cable operators Telewest and ntl.

Three new options for BT Together were unveiled - the first offers a flat rate of 6p for up to an hour's call made locally or nationally at the evening or weekend. Daytime calls are 3p per minute. This plan costs £11.50 per month. The second option offers the first hour of all evening and weekend local and national calls free, with daytime calls charged at 3p per minute. That plan costs £18.50 per month. The third option offers the first hour of any UK call made at any time of day free - for £28.50 per month. The new options will be available from June 1.

BT's Angus Porter, managing director of BT Retail's consumer division, lashed out at competitors, saying: "Claims by some competitors of savings over BT are often just plain misleading, as they are based on comparisons with our standard rate, which is only for customers for whom it would not be economic to be on a fixed call package. Today's changes make it simpler for many customers to spot the real deal.

"Our offer of 6p for all evening and weekend calls up to an hour virtually removes the need to compare our prices with other operators. What you see is what you get, with no need to think about any other items like call connection charges. Just consider that Telewest charges the same amount to connect a call as BT Together customers will pay for an hour. And the cost of a good gossip, say half-an-hour's chat with friends or relatives in another part of the UK at the weekend, will be substantially cheaper with BT Together. With BT, that chat will cost 6p, while British Gas will charge 45p, Carphone Warehouse, 57p, and the Post Office, £1.08."

Telewest, having been somewhat singled out in BT's announcement, reacted with skepticism. Gavin Patterson, Telewest's managing director, said: "[BT] accuses competitor's pricing claims of being 'plain misleading' because they're based on standard rate comparisons, yet it has done exactly the same today. Our Talk Unlimited, Talk Evenings & Weekends and Talk International packages, which BT has conveniently overlooked, still offer phone users genuine savings.

"By BT's own admittance, consumers are clamouring for lower, less complicated call charges and that's exactly what we've been offering for nearly two years now. We've got over 360,000 customers on unlimited packages who know they've dialled the best deal."

"By not comparing like for like, BT is simply clouding the issue further and continuing to offer consumers second best."