WAP announcement!

["Mark Harrison" <Mark@xxxxxxx>]

BT intensifies Wap contest
By Andrew Ward in London
Published: November 16 2000 20:06GMT  Last Updated: November 17 2000 15:31=
GMT
www.ft.com=20

=20
The battle for leadership in the UK's emerging market for wireless data
ser=
vices intensified on Thursday when British Telecommunications announced it
=
was to offer unmetered internet access through mobile phones.=20

British customers will be able to make unlimited use of text messaging and
=
internet services through Genie, BT's mobile portal, for a flat rate of
=A3=
20 a month.=20

The offer demonstrates the competition between mobile phone network
operato=
rs and their portals to attract the early adopters of mobile internet
servi=
ces.=20

Laurence Alexander, managing director of Genie UK, said unmetered access
wo=
uld accelerate demand for wireless application protocol, or Wap, phones.=20

"Flat rates are driving growth in fixed line internet access. The same
will=
happen with the mobile internet," he said.=20

Wap portals allow mobile phone users to access a limited range of internet
=
content, such as news headlines, share prices, sports results, banking and
=
shopping.=20

The technology was introduced in the UK this year and has attracted
critici=
sm for the time it takes to download content and its unreliability.=20

But Kent Thexton, managing director, insisted Wap was "alive and
kicking" a=
nd Genie had 500,000 Wap customers in the UK and attracted 15m page
impress=
ions in October. "Wap is only seven months old in the UK. For a new
industr=
y these are really phenomenal numbers. The market is going to run forward
v=
ery quickly," said Mr Alexander.=20

Genie, the mobile internet division of BT Openworld, is offering an
alterna=
tive =A310-a-month charge that allows unlimited text messaging but
excludes=
Wap services. Limited free voice services will also be included in the pri=
ce.=20

The tariffs will be available only online through Genie's website, cutting
=
out the cost of call centres and shops. The service is delivered over BT
Ce=
llnet's wireless network across the UK. Rivals include Orange, which is
off=
ering free Wap services every weekend, and the Vizzavi portal, a joint
vent=
ure between Vodafone and Vivendi.=20

One analyst judged Wap a "disaster" and said cheap prices would
not disguis=
e the poor service. But James Ross, at ABN Amro, said: "You have got
to adm=
ire BT's determination to make mobile data work."=20
=20


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