According to silicon.com, this is “certainly in reaction to Tiscali’s popular £15.99 per month 150Kbps offering”, but we think this is not the main reason. From here it looks more like Telewest are moving towards an aligned product range with ntl:home, in preparation for a merger that has been on the cards for a while now and will probably happen next year.

The move does, though, also follow similar initiatives from Tiscali and PlusNet, both of which have launched lower cost, lower speed ‘broadband’ products in a bid to attract new subscibers. The service will have a cap of 750MB of traffic per day according to Telewest’s Acceptable Use Policy. “Users who regularly exceed this level may be contacted by email to discuss more suitable service options,” Telewest added.

Chad Raube, Telewest Broadband director of internet services, said in a statement: “We’re expecting demand from people who have previously considered broadband a big leap from dial-up and now getting onto the first rung of the broadband ladder will become a no-brainer.”