The second costing £15

The second, costing £15.25 per month, would offer unmetered Net usage at evenings and weekends, and offer 80 free minutes of voice calls Daytime Net access would cost 1p per minute. The third “round the clock” version for both home and business users would cost £29.25 per month and offer unmetered access at any time.BT insisted the prices were competitive with the US – a demand made by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, at a conference on Tuesday – and in some cases cheaper. “For business customers, BT believes its charges are significantly lower than those typical in the US,” BT said in a statement.The move follows announcements by the American-owned ISP Altavista and the cable company NTL this week that they would provide free unmetered access to the Net by summer.Despite the fact that SurfTime would cut off ISPs’ access to part of phone bills, Peter Macleod, managing director of BT UK markets, said he believed “the vast majority” would offer services via the 0844 number. ISPs might charge users extra on top of the BT rates, justifying the charge by offering information or services online.. The head of the Confederation of British Industry warned yesterday that the obsession with dot stocks was a “worry for UK plc”. Digby Jones said established firms found it hard to raise money on the stock market.

The head of the Confederation of British Industry warned yesterday that the obsession with dot stocks was a “worry for UK plc”. Digby Jones said established firms found it hard to raise money on the stock market.
His comments came it was confirmed that nine companies, mainly from traditional industries such as manufacturing and brewing, would drop out of the FTSE-100 index. They will be replaced by a mix of internet, telecom and drugs stocks, some of which floated only months ago.”I would urge investors not to ignore very, very good companies that find themselves outside the FTSE because of an arbitrary line drawn at 100,” he said. “Good growth opportunities will be missed if investment decision are take solely above that line. He said that while some dot companies would succeed, other companies that were benefiting from the knowledge economy were being ignored “because of a perception problem”.”We must ensure that we do not see a flight of capital away from other companies, because the whole essence of being on the market is access to capital,” he said. “That is a worry for jobs, it is a worry for investment in the medium term, it is a worry for UK Plc.”He said the issue would undermine the FTSE in terms of its ability to reflect all sectors and regions of the UK But he predicted the markets would rebalance. “I think in the short term the market will correct, in the medium term I think dot is here today and it is tomorrow’s industry.Howard Davies, the chairman of the Financial Services Authority, warned that prices of some dot stocks would be very volatile “We welcome individual investors coming into the market.

But they have to accept that in these very volatile markets their prices can go down as well as up,” he said.Mr Davies said these companies had “for the most part” never made a profit or paid a dividend, and had no intention of paying a dividend. “So the normal basis on which you value a company is no longer relevant” he said. “When a company is valued more on hope than on expectation, then you can expect it to be a volatile stock.”The shake-up in the FTSE 100 index is the biggest in its 14-year history and will take place on 20 March. Those exiting are: Wolseley, Imperial Tobacco, Thames Water, PowerGen, Scottish & Newcastle, Whitbread, Hanson, Allied Domecq and Associated British Foods. The new entrants will be C&W Communications, Freeserve, Thus, Baltimore Technologies, Psion, Nycomed Amersham, Celltech, Capita and EMAP.. The two largest parts of the Co-op movement finally agreed to merge yesterday in a move that creates a business with £4.5bn sales.