Virgin goes head-to-head with BT over DSL

Virgin plans to go head-to-head with BT in the fixed-line telephone market next year.

Virgin chairman Sir Richard Branson told the Independent on Sunday the company will start offering a range of branded deals for home phones - including broadband internet access - by buying up spare capacity on the phone network.

Speaking to silicon.com, a Virgin spokesman confirmed that Branson is "thinking about it."

He added: "Virgin has proved in other markets such as energy that the public is interested in competition and there is a market there."

The spokesman explained that Virgin would resell services from the incumbent, and cited OneTel as a parallel.

A BT spokesman said that OneTel buy spare capacity from BT and then "simply add their own access code into your line".

With ADSL, the BT spokesman said it is available to buy through local loop unbundling and he added BT is currently getting orders for up to 2000 ADSL lines a week.

Branson said Virgin would sell the fixed telephone lines at prices that would undercut BT and cable companies NTL and Telewest.

Branson described Virgin as a "branded venture capital business" and added the company will "extend into the fixed line telephony market next year".