Clear intent on keeping its free internet provider alive

By MICHAEL FOREMAN

The free internet model is refusing to roll over and die.

Clear Communications is considering investing in more resources for its Zfree service, as well as reopening registrations.

After freenet and i4free scaled back their free services in January, Zfree remained as the only large provider of unlimited free internet access, but it stopped accepting new users when registrations reached 250,000.

Spokeswoman Rochelle Lockley said no decision had been made but Zfree would probably accept new customers within a few months.

The news is likely to be greeted with scepticism by existing Zfree users who have complained about difficulty logging on and poor performance when they succeed.

Ms Lockley admitted many users had experienced problems, but she denied rumours Clear had curtailed Zfree's resources to encourage users to abandon a loss-making service.

She said Clear said the service was generating some revenue through e-commerce, such as a recent Valentine's Day promotion with the The Warehouse, and the company was considering investments to end the congestion.

Meanwhile Splurge, the country's only other unlimited free service, operating in Auckland-only, is still open for business, according Matthew Hobbs, managing director of Mercury Telecommunications.

"We are treading water while we wait and see what Zfree is doing."

Attica Communications executive director Wayne Toddun said his company was still allowing users to sign up for up to 10 hours per month of free access on i4free, but admitted logging on was difficult at times.

More than 10,000 users had signed up for slingshot, the $14.95 per month service launched in January, compared with the 145,000 users i4free reached in January.

Karim Hussona, chief executive of freenet's parent company, Compass Communications, said he was "very pleased" with the take up of a 10 hours free/$14.75 per month thereafter service launched in January.

But he refused to say how many of the 55,000 freenet users had been retained.