AltaVista UK admits it never launched unmetered service

The ISP did not sign a flat-fee agreement with BT, forcing AltaVista to delay the much publicised June launch of the service. AltaVista’s failure to explain the position to customers led to some newspapers and web sites launching campaigns to find a single customer who had received the service.

Unmetered internet access has now caused problems for several ISPs in the UK. On 26th May this year, the telecommunications watchdog Oftel ruled on FRIACO (Flat Rate Internet Access Call Origination), forcing BT to make flat rate internet access available to all other telecom providers and ISPs. On 5th June, AltaVista UK announced its pioneering new service for unmetered access. However, the service never launched, despite 270,000 users signing up, and the ISP now blames BT for failing to make Friaco available.

AltaVista’s UK managing director Andy Mitchell said on BBC Radio 4: “It is very difficult to plan a business with the delaying tactics of BT. …The whole industry is a fiasco. A lot of people are dependent on BT for this service.”

AltaVista is understood to be taking its complaint to Oftel next week.

AltaVista's complaint echoes those of LineOne and CallNet, both of which abandoned unmetered access services, although Excite@Home, Breathe and NTL among others are presently operating such services, although some restrictions on the number of subscribers have been introduced by some of these ISPs in addition to their original conditions.

BT has launched its own unmetered service but it is thought that the equivalent wholesale product is likely to be unavailable to other ISPs until January 2001.