Already BT has announced it is to offer content from BBC Worldwide, Paramount and Warner Group with its unique next generation TV services. And, at the company’s Consumer Strategy Day last week, BT also promised to deliver other new broadband and voice services for consumers.
International calls made with the PC to regular landlines are already cheaper with BT Communicator than with rivals such as Skype. However, as a Christmas present to its customers, BT will be offering free calls throughout the festive holiday to any landline in 30 different countries.
Meanwhile, the price of Broadband Talk, which allows customers to use a normal phone, rather than the PC, has been slashed by up to 50 per cent to just £2 per month for evening and weekend calls or £7 a month for anytime calls and with BTs top two Broadband packages, evening and weekend calls are completely free.
BT will also introduce an enhanced voice over internet offering in Spring which will be available globally and feature BT’s new high definition sound quality. This sound quality will also be available on BT’s new video phones – also available in Spring - which will allow anyone with a BT broadband line to see their loved ones while they talk.
The company says the broadband heart of the home will be the BT hub. It will enable wireless networking for all the family’s PCs and laptops, next generation TV, voice calls over the internet, five different voice channels that can be used simultaneously so all member of the family can be on the phone to their friends at the same time. It will also enable monitoring services, such as security for the home as well as greater protection for your valuable data such as your photos and MP3s, which can be backed up with BT’s new online storage and back-up service, Digital Vault. Additionally, BT will be able to identify problems with your hub remotely, meaning fewer inconvenient home visits for customers.
Outside the home, BT will be using its network of 8,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in the UK to offer opportunities to work and play, such as the recent deal with Nintendo allowing gamers to challenge one another via a Wi-Fi link at BT Openzone hotspots. And BT Fusion, the world’s first mobile which uses broadband to seamlessly change from mobile rates to landline rates at home, will offer customers a wide range of handsets alongside the Motorola v560 and forthcoming Razr. In the second half of next year the next generation of Fusion phones will be Wi-Fi powered which will ensure that customers always stay better connected at great value rates in even more places.
Livingston said: “We will make life simpler and better for our customers. Not only will we be offering them great value communications which enhance their life, but we will be able to offer individual customers the kinds of services which are tailored to their needs”.
“This is an exciting time for our consumer business but an even more exciting time to be a BT customer”