Carphone Warehouse offers 'free' broadband

A price war was looming in the broadband market today after Carphone Warehouse offered “free” high-speed internet access to its British landline customers.

Carphone said subscribers to its Talk Talk fixed-line service would receive free broadband as part of a bundle that includes UK and international phone calls.

The deal was priced at £9.99 (€14.40) a month, compared with standard broadband rates of around £14.99 (€21.50), although customers will still have to pay a monthly line rental charge of £11 (€15.80).

Analysts described the promotion as a “landgrab” on the broadband market that would turn up the competitive heat on BT, which has 2.3 million retail customers with high-speed internet access, and cable giant NTL.

Details were unveiled alongside a trading update from Carphone which showed that 2.6 million were taking its Talk Talk service following the acquisitions of Onetel and Tele2 last year.