SMBs benefit from BT and Opal broadband price war

Small businesses may be the beneficiaries of a business broadband price war, triggered by announcements from BT and TalkTalk's business arm Opal.

Opal has announced a business-broadband service with speeds of up to 24Mbps beginning at prices of just 10 per month, while BT Business replied by slashing prices on all of its broadband packages.

BT's biggest discount was 35 per cent on its Business Total Broadband Option 3, from 40.50 to 30 per month. BT's version of Opals' 10 per month offer, Business Broadband Option 1, has decreased from 19.79 to 15.

After TalkTalk spent two-years work and 200 million on a next generation' national network, Opal predicted it would create a schism in the market similar to the that created by TalkTalk's free broadband package, which disrupted' the consumer market in 2006.

Opal said that the new offerings would increase pressure on competitors like BT, and that it had an opportunity to take a 20 per cent share of the market place.

BT focused the attention more on its range of services, such as offering mobile broadband within the packages to cut costs and give them an edge during the downturn.