Yesterday Telefonica, Spain’s leading telephone company, announced that it is going to slash broad-band internet access prices in a move to consolidate its control over other Spanish Internet providers. The move is excellent news for people in Spain who rely on Internet to keep in touch with news, events and family abroad.<\/p>\n
More than 3 million Internet users in Spain pay between 29 and 100 euros per month for their broadband conexion. Telefonica representatives yesterday said that the company plans to offer a new Internet service for just 9.9 euros per month. This is the last in a series of special offers launched by Telefonica to capture the ADSL market. The first, last month, was a special offer whereby users were given the chance to double the speed of their broadband conection at no cost at all. The second was a offer whereby consumers were offered the chance to purchase ADSL line plus a computer in one special package.<\/p>\n
But it is its most recent offer which will probably prove to be the beginning of a new commercial battle between Telefonica and its competitors and will hopefully bring prices further down to the ultimate benefit of consumers.<\/p>\n
Telefonica’s new plan, called \u00abTailor-made Internet\u00bb, offers customers a minimum of 11 hours of broadband Internet connection per month for 9.9 euros. Customers wanting more than just 11 hours can upgrade to another plan offering broadband access from nine p.m. to eight a.m from Monday to Friday. This second plan costs 12 euros and is expected to be extremely popular among families with teenage children who increasingly turn to the Internet for help with their studies aswell as for an extension to their social life.<\/p>\n
Telefonica’s latest move is expected to result in increased Internet traffic in Spain (Spain is at the rear end of the EU league table of number of Internet users) as more people will be able to afford a quicker connection.<\/p>\n