WebProNews

SBC and Yahoo have placed an offer for $14.95 per month pricing for DSL connectivity on the SBC web site.

SBC's offer only affects 13 states, as a dearth of competition and widespread availability in the broadband Internet industry continues to persist. But for those eligible, the $14.95 price offers 1.5MB download and 384Kbps upload speeds, and a single dynamic IP address.

Analysts note that more than half of the 77 million residences in the US still use dialup connections, according to a Wall Street Journal report. The basic DSL offering from SBC under this promotion offers a download speed of about 25 times that of a 56k connection.

SBC appears to be taking a volume approach to broadband services, by offering a low price to gain higher market share. The company says the $14.95 rate isn't an introductory rate.

Broadband Internet access serves as a gateway service, one that phone companies like SBC can leverage for future offerings. Broadband access can be an avenue for providing downloadable media content, or streaming content like movies or video. All of those services represent potential income streams in the future.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.