To compete with Europe’s booming free ISPs market, AOL Europe says it will introduce a new, low, flat fee service in the UK, to be launched June 1.
The unlimited use pricing plan will cost just £9.99 (US$16.14) per month,
and, says AOL, will offer “unmatched value” to its 600,000
UK members while also driving membership growth.
At the same time, AOL Europe announced new marketing deals
with online auction service eBay and the domain-based
web site hosting company Verio. The agreement with Verio is
thought to be the largest e-commerce deal of its kind in
the UK market.
“AOL
Europe’s advertising and e-commerce advance sales of more
than £25 million (US$40 million) over the next two years and our new strategic
partnerships with eBay and Verio demonstrate our ability to
attract world-class partners and revenue streams that support
our investments in a superior member experience,” said Andreas Schmidt, president and CEO, of AOL Europe.
David Phillips, president of AOL UK, said that the UK market
is poised for enormous growth and the new pricing plan
would result in “dramatically increased usage of the AOL
service.”