According to the Mail on Sunday BT is planning to offer free broadband to all of it's customers.

BT currently has 20 million customers, but they will have to wait until at least 2008 to get the service when it's 21st Century Network (21CN) becomes a reality. The £10 billion project is planned to be active in 2009 but senior sources in BT say this may happen a year earlier than planned, with the first city (Cardiff) to be fitted with 21CN completed by the end of this year.

A spokesman for BT said that the service would provide a 'broadband dialtone' as part of the basic line rental, which would mean that customers will only have to plug in their computer. Additional services, including the possibility of buying extra-fast download speeds for as little as a day at a time, will be possible.

While being touted as 'free broadband' there have not been any hints as to the pricing of the basic line rental and whether this will be increased to provide a triple play broadband, telecoms and Video on Demand package.