A Clever Spell

The bundled market for broadband consumers is about to witness the entry of Tesco, which recently announced its plans to compete with the major broadband providers in the country before the spring of 2010. UK-based Tesco is already popular as an international grocery and general merchandising retail chain, and is the largest retailer in Britain.

The supermarket chain has entered into an agreement with Cable & Wireless for wholesale broadband services over a period of five years from now, without having to resort to services of other providers in the market. This will enable the supermarket to provide a wider variety of services that would include home phones and other bundled broadband deals. This in turn would pose a serious challenge to the other providers and result in reduction of prices across the industry.

It is also worth noting that Tesco had undertaken similar deals with Virgin Media Broadband in the past. However, the new deal has given it the independence to make use of its retail presence in the market to challenge its competitors more firmly.

According to Tesco telecoms chief Lance Batchelor, the market of broadband and fixed telephone lines is worth over 8.8 billion, and a major part of it is still untapped by the supermarket. He added that the present state of the UK broadband market provides a lot of opportunities for Tesco.