Vodafone finally gives birth to broadband baby

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Following similar moves by its mobile peers, Vodafone today officially launched its own flavour of broadband.

The offering, dubbed Vodafone At Home, costs £25 a month and delivers up to 8Mb of uncapped usage, in addition 24/7 support, a free Netgear Ethernet modem and anti-virus and anti-spam software from Norton.

Users will also benefit from free landline calls and 25 per cent of landline to mobile calls compared to BT's standard charges.

However, the potential take up for the latest market entrant is unclear as yet.

Competitor Orange already provides a similar package for its customers and the likes of Carphone Warehouse, with its TalkTalk offering, and BSkyB have also recently taken the wraps off their own broadband offerings.

But some experts think the market isn't fully saturated yet.

Broadband market researcher Point Topic has predicted that a further 2.5 million people will sign up for the technology in the first half of this year, leaving potential headroom for a relative latecomer like Vodafone.

Vodafone is using BT Wholesale's broadband network to support its new offering, which covers the areas inhabited by 97 per cent of UK households.

"The way we're packaging and delivering Vodafone At Home ensures our customers get the best experience when they buy broadband," said Tim Yates, director of Vodafone UK's consumer business unit when the new offering was announced in November last year.

"With our managed roll-out and commitment to customer service we are confident that we will be able to manage demand...By working with BT we will be providing a market-leading mix of quality, value and service. Vodafone at Home will provide nationwide broadband coverage from day one, as well as offering the flexibility and convenience of going wireless at home and being able to access the internet on laptops when out of the home on Vodafone's 3G broadband network."

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