DT announces unmetered Internet access

Deutsche Telekom is set to introduce unmetered pricing for Internet access this summer.

Europe's largest telco will charge no more than DM100 (£31) per month for flat-rate access to T-Online, introduce special Sunday rates, reduce DSL prices for home users, and connect all the country's schools to the Internet at no cost.

In line with government efforts - expressed by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder at a conference last week - to get more of the population online, Ron Sommer, Telekom chairman, said: "Deutsche Telekom has declared the year 2000 the year of the Internet and given it the motto 'Germ@ny goes online'. We are launching a campaign with numerous new attractive online offers."

Lisa Unden, public telecoms analyst at Dataquest Gartner Group, said: "This push is especially aimed at small businesses and the Internet users of tomorrow. There is also a lot of merger activity right now between telcos and Net providers in Germany, and Deutsche Telekom has set up a joint venture between its T-Mobile and T-Online subsidiaries to concentrate on m-commerce."

Daniel Bieler, Internet analyst at Japanese investment bank, Nomura, said: "In a way, this is great for German users, because it's cheaper than what, say, BT will be doing. But the important thing is ADSL for about £30 per month."

Bieler also agreed the move towards m-commerce is important. "Soon the largest ISPs will be the mobile operators," he added, and said the presence of Vodafone in the German market through Mannesmann's network will spur the growth of mobile Internet offerings.

There has also been speculation that AOL will fight back with an "all-you-can-eat" deal that undercuts Telekom's plans.

Both analysts agreed the world's largest provider of Internet services isn't likely to stand still, and give the initiative to the German giant.