Ajato cuts high-speed access charges

Brazilian broadband Internet service provider Ajato has cut the monthly cost of its 512 kilobytes a second (kbps) package by 25%, following recent cuts by its competitors, according to local press. Ajato, a unit of Brazilian cable television operator TVA, cut the monthly connection charge to 145.9 reais a month, from 195 reais, and will provide the modem for free. The company is following the lead set by telecom operator Telefonica and its high-speed access unit Speedy, which was charging 285 reais a month for 512kbps, and is now offering 600kbps for 179.8 reais a month. Ajato is also keen to boost the number of customers using the 512kbps speed, which currently account for 1% of its 33,000 customers, while 60% use 256kbps. The company now wants to boost the level of 512kbps customers to 10% by year-end and 20% by end-2004. "We saw the price was inaccessible for most users," Ajato Internet and telecom manager Amilton de Lucca was quoted as saying by Valor Economico. Ajato aims to reach 40,000 customers by the end of this year, up 35% from the end of 2002, he said, adding that the customer base could rise 50% to 60,000 next year. By comparison, Telefonica has 400,000 customers using Speedy and aims to reach between 700,000 and 1 million by the end of 2004.