BT to offer PC/Net access bundle on hire purchase

BT plans to offer SMEs and consumers a bundled PC and Internet access package for a monthly subscription fee of £25.99. The move comes just one month after Tiny Computers dropped a similar offer, due to "a lack of customer demand".

The BT deal includes a free ISP service, an 0800 Internet access number for the weekend and a Fujitsu PC, which the customer gets to keep after three years. BT says its offer will succeed where Tiny's failed because it includes a higher spec PC and free weekend internet access.

Critics of the deal are not so confident though. The Tiny offer only tied the customer in for one year, whereas BT wants customers to sign up for three. Susen Sarkar, senior analyst at Yankee Group Europe argued that this will prevent consumers from being able to take advantage of better deals as market competition increases - a sentiment that was echoed by Michael Dell, CEO of Dell computing, at a press conference in Paris this week.

According to Sarkar: "A lot of other ISPs will start offering 0800 Net access very soon, and PCs are so cheap now I'm not sure whether this is the best option." He then added: "BT will find it very difficult because it is targeting a market that doesn't want to take such a huge risk just to get connected to the Internet."

A spokesman for Tiny Computers also agreed: "Customers could buy a computer on hire purchase over three years and they would have more choice - so I don't see the benefit. However, it is a different market than the one we were targeting with the free PC offer - customers want the higher spec PC, and the 0800 aspect makes it more interesting."

The spokesman then confirmed that an 0800 Internet access is one of many incentives Tiny Computers is also likely to be offering customers in the near future.