Yahoo, BT team to deliver U.K. broadband services

Yahoo is exporting its Internet products and services to the U.K. via a deal with leading regional Internet provider BT Broadband, an arm of BT Group PLC.

The alliance between Yahoo and BT, announced Wednesday, mirrors a similar agreement Yahoo has with SBC in the U.S., and furthers the company's strategy in the broadband market.

In coming weeks, BT Broadband customers will be able to sign up for the Yahoo U.K. Plus package of products and services, which include a master e-mail account with up to 10 subaccounts, antivirus software, 50M bytes of photo and briefcase storage, instant messaging, and a personalized portal and browser toolbar.

News of the deal comes as Yahoo is preparing to kick off its annual analyst and stockholder day at 11:30 p.m. ET Wednesday when the company is expected to elaborate on its relationship with paid search provider Overture Services, as well as on its acquisition of search company Inktomi.

In addition to making a splash in the broadband market, search services have also been tapped as a major focus for the company, but it faces mounting competition for rivals that are also gunning for the space. Microsoft's MSN updated its search offering this week, for example, and claims that its search product is now 60 percent faster, offers improved search result descriptions and has streamlined pages.

What Yahoo has up its sleeve for the search category remains to be seen, but announcement of the BT deal Wednesday implies that the company is busy on several fronts.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.