FRIACO heralded by EC

o_donnel_abu

From this month's issue of PC Pro magazine:

FRIACO heralded by EC
Flat-rate packages boosting demand in the UK

The European Commission (EC) believes flat-rate tariffs are driving home Internet usage, and is urging other countries to follow the UK's lead in introducing unmetered packages.

Almost 40 per cent of the 10 billion homes with Internet connections in the UK already use unmetered packages, and the EC believes the FRIACO model should be copied elsewhere in Europe.

'The Commission believes that flat-rate interconnection for Internet calls should be encouraged,' it said in a report. 'One deterrent to greater use of the Internet is the customer's awareness that, in the absence of flat-rate or unmetered usage charges, the bill is mounting with every minute spent online.'

Leading ISPs agreed with this conclusion, saying the take-up of flat-rate packages has been 'phenomenal' over the past year.

'In the UK, the reason people are coming online more than ever before is flat rate,' said AOL’s Matt Peacock. 'A year ago, AOL launched flat rate and then it wasn't really in the mass market. So, during the year, we've gone from 1 per cent of households on flat rate to 40 per cent. It's driving the market.'

And AOL was quick to counter suggestions the UK market may be approaching saturation point, following a recent Oftel report that appeared to indicate the number of homes with Internet access is levelling out.

'Ninety-eight per cent of UK households t now have a TV, and it took about 40 years to reach that saturation point,' said Peacock. 'The Internet five years ago was a stranger to UK households, and we're now looking at 40 per cent penetration - that's only really happened over the past three years. In these three years, we've gone from 10 to 40 per cent. We have a long way to go yet before we reach saturation point.'

I'm trying to find original report.

Martin Harran

aidan_dunne

Martin, as I said in another thread, this confirms something I read about in an issue of PC Advisor from a few months back dealing with the whole area of unmetered access. As I said in the other thread, if you want I'll scan it and e-mail it to you. It makes some very good points, points that, just like this report, could be worth putting to the Eircom people if you manage to get a meeting with them. If you want a scan of it, just say so.

o_donnel_abu

Originally posted by aidan_dunne
Martin, as I said in another thread, this confirms something I read about in an issue of PC Advisor from a few months back dealing with the whole area of unmetered access. As I said in the other thread, if you want I'll scan it and e-mail it to you. It makes some very good points, points that, just like this report, could be worth putting to the Eircom people if you manage to get a meeting with them. If you want a scan of it, just say so.

What issue?

I get PC Advisor most months so I may have it.

Martin

If you don't mind, scan and email it me anyway - save me doing it

Martin

aidan_dunne

It was in the August 2001 issue. I was just going through the old issues of some of my PC mags the other night when I came across this article. Made a lot of points about the massive uptake of internet access in the UK when unmetered was released and other interesting points. I'll scan it and e-mail it to you anyway, either later on this evening or some part of tomorrow.

o_donnel_abu

I managed to find the original EC report at
http://europa.eu.int/information_society/topics/telecoms/implementation/annual_report/7report/index_en.htm

The report was issued in November and I have started a new thread with some interesting 'nuggets'.

Martin