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AOL offers free UK service
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July 19, 1999: 6:42 a.m. ET
Internet access provider bows to competitor pressure
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LONDON (CNNfn) - AOL Europe, the biggest Internet access provider in Europe, succumbed to the pressure from U.K. competitors Monday and unveiled a free ISP service in Britain.
AOL Europe is a joint venture between America Online (AOL) and Germany's Bertelsmann.
The new service will be called Netscape Online, and will be rolled out in August.
AOL has been forced into the new service by the mushrooming popularity of free ISPs in Britain. The first of these, Freeserve, has been phenomenally successful, and is due to launch an IPO valuing it at up to $2.4 billion.
Freeserve rapidly overtook AOL as Britain's most popular access provider after its launch last September. It currently has some 1.3 million subscribers. Others were quick to climb aboard the bandwagon, with dozens of free services being offered by the likes of soccer clubs, supermarkets and banks.
The new venture represents a major backtrack for AOL Europe, whose chief executive, Andreas Schmidt, previously told CNNfn.com that free ISPs were "an unworkable business model".
AOL Europe will continue to offer its other ISP services under the CompuServe and AOL brand names.
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AOL Europe
Freeserve
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