BT broadband boon

Colleges and libraries will save money and share information with a high-speed internet service to be launched by British Telecom.

LearningStream will enable up to 200 users to connect to online resources at the same time. The service will cost between Pounds 2,000 and Pounds 3,000 a year for line rental as the first institutions join the service, plus a connection fee of Pounds 600. Thr line rental will fall to about Pounds 1,300 as additional colleges, libraries, schools and Citizen's Advice Bureau share the network.

LearningStream, which is separate from BT internet services, uses broadband Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) technology.