AOL Lends Support to European Net Boycott

Computergram International, June 4, 1999

America Online Inc's UK arm has expressed support for the pan-European internet boycott that has been arranged for this Sunday. AOL, which has suffered in the UK since the rise of the subscription-free ISP, has been lobbying EU governments for several months to have the metered telecommunications regime in place in most countries replaced by a US-style flat-rate local call system. Now the company has thrown its weight behind the UK's Campaign For Unmetered Telecommunications, or CUT, which shares its goals.

In a letter distributed to AOL members, David Phillips, AOL's UK managing director, stopped short of urging members to take part in the boycott, but raised awareness enough to increase CUT's membership rates from 20 new per day to 100 per day. AOL has also become a corporate sponsor of CUT. A spokesperson for CUT suggested the relationship is uneasy, as AOL still charges a subscription on top of the per-minute call charges its users must pay, but broadly welcomed the alliance, which should increase the weight of the 15-nation boycott this Sunday.