BT cuts Wi-Fi access fee by 50%

British Telecom has cut the cost of accessing its Wi-Fi hotspots by up to 50% in a bid to compete with the growing popularity of mobile broadband.

It has also announced plans to install 2,500 extra hotspots across Europe, bringing the total number of overseas access points up to over 50,000, complementing the 100,000 access points in the UK and Ireland.

Four new tariffs make the costs of accessing Wi-Fi hotspots as low as 1/2p per minute.

£5 per month buys 500 minutes of Openzone access, with additional minutes charged at 10p each. A 12 month contract applies.

£12.50 per month gets ‘unlimited’ Openzone minutes and 500 minutes per month of T-Mobile’s Wi-Fi hotspots. A 3GB fair usage policy limits downloads, and a minimum 18 month contract applies.

£28 per month adds 500 international roaming minutes to the £12.50 price plan.

Pay-as-you-go Openzone has been cut 25% to 15p per minute.

Broadband analyst at broadbandchoices.co.uk Michael Phillips said although Wi-Fi hotspots don’t give the same levels of freedom as mobile broadband, they are cheaper for users who want fast download speeds or cheap international roaming.

However, Broadband Expert director Rob Ablewhite thinks the days of Wi-Fi hotspots are numbered.

Ablewhite believes that within the next 12 months Wi-Fi hotspots will be completely redundant as mobile broadband prices are increasingly pushed down by competition and economies of scale.