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.
