T-Online Flat Rate Set at 38 USD

[Berlin] –T-Online will be offering a “full flat rate” package beginning
on June 1 for 79 DM (38 USD) a month, the company said on Friday. The full flat rate
package includes unlimited net access and the telephone charges of connecting to the
mother company of T-Online,
Deutsche Telekom. The minimum length of contract has been set
at one year.

Deutsche Telekom is also extending its DSL network, promoting the motto of
“broadband access for all”. Deutsche Telekom chairman Ron Sommer commented,
“With this type of connection we will be bringing broadband onto the mass
market.” At present his “T-DSL” service still costs 50 Marks (24 USD) more
than the standard ISDN connection. Further information on future T-DSL
pricing is expected soon, commented the Deutsche Telekom press office.

By the end of the year the company wants to have sold around 500,000 T-DSL
connections. T-DSL is already available on 60 local city networks – 220
local networks should receive it by December 31.

Moreover, T-Online intends to restructure its tarif structure. For example,
“T-Online Eco” will be reduced from the current tarif level of 5
pfennigs (2 cents) a minute to 2.9 pfennigs (1 cent) including telephone
charges. However, the two free hours which have been part of the package
will now be dropped.

A new kind of portal is also in the planning stages. This will center around
the telephone directory business of the Deutsche Telekom daughter
DeTeMedien. A new information and inquiry service will be introduced on the
net together with the “Yellow Pages” and the telephone directory publishers.
“We will, of course, also promote e-commerce with this info portal”
commented Sommer and said that a rapid internationalization of this service
is also on the cards.