Internet, mobile costs low in UK - 01/2001

The UK has some of the lowest prices for Internet access and mobile phone use, according to telecommunications regulator Oftel.

In a survey of Internet costs in the UK, Germany, France, Sweden, and the US states of Ohio and California, UK households paid the lowest amount for metered Internet access. Only the state of California had cheaper rates for unmetered home access.

The survey found that the UK provides the cheapest unmetered access rates for businesses. However, British businesses paid the second-highest metered Internet access rates of the countries surveyed. While Oftel highlighted the low cost of flat-rate web access, it said improvements could be made in terms of metered access for companies.

In its research on mobile costs, which also included Italy, Oftel found that Germany was the only country with significantly lower fees than the UK.

www.oftel.gov.uk