Thus announces broadband price cuts

Demon Express Plus will be reduced from a monthly fee of £75 to £45 and Demon Express Pro from £150 to £79.

In addition, Thus is halving connection costs for both services to £125 even though BT charges for set-up services have not been reduced.

Phil Male, chief operating officer of Thus, said: "We are very pleased to be in a position to reduce prices for our Demon Express Pro and Plus services, as we believe that lower costs will enable many more UK businesses to benefit from broadband.

"This is particularly true of the set-up cost," he added. "High costs for a managed set-up are a significant barrier to entry, but many smaller businesses are not equipped with the technical knowledge to follow the self-install route."

Despite BT's latest rounds of cuts Male believes there is still a lot to be done to improve conditions for business consumers within the UK broadband market.

He said: "While we welcome the wholesale price cuts, it is disappointing that we cannot reduce costs for all our business ADSL services. BT's price changes relate only to IPStream connections -- the wholesale end-to-end service provided by BT Wholesale. BT has not passed on similar price advantages to its DataStream service, which allows service providers to use their own networks to differentiate and add value to the standard services provided by BT Wholesale -- furthermore BT has increased some of the infrastructure costs."

He added: "As already announced we have asked the industry regulator, Oftel, to investigate the disparity in BT's wholesale pricing."