RIVAL broadband companies are deeply sceptical that Carphone Warehouse will be able to meet the huge demand from customers for “free” high-speed internet access.

Some have warned that the mobile-phone retailer’s inexperience in delivering broadband risks alienating thousands of its customers — a problem encountered by Bulldog Communications, part of Cable & Wireless.

Carphone’s Talk Talk subsidiary last week launched “free broadband forever” — bundling 8 megabit per second internet access with a package of unlimited voice calls for a price of £20.99 a month.

To deliver the service, Talk Talk plans to install its own broadband equipment in 1,000 BT exchanges, and to have 200 operational by July.

However, the process of switching customers away from BT is complex, involves many different parts of BT and is prone to break down — leaving customers without their broadband service. BT is supposed to be introducing a new automated system by the end of June, but some broadband firms suspect it will not be ready in time.

Boris Ivanovic, the founder of Be, one of the firm’s furthest ahead with “unbundling” local exchanges, said: “I think (Carphone) is over-optimistic in terms of how it’s going to go. A lot of people are talking about unbundling but very few have done anything. Carphone are talking about what they wish to do. They don’t have any particular experience to say whether it’s possible.”

Talk Talk’s existing broadband customers are supplied by reselling BT’s wholesale product. Ivanovic said: “The knowledge you need for unbundling is orders of magnitude more complex than just reselling. Running a network with 1,000 nodes in exchanges when their ambition is to add millions of customers, the complexity is very different.”

Ivanovic built a successful broadband company in Sweden before setting up Be 18 months ago. He said this experience gave his team knowledge of the myriad ways in which things can go wrong, and to plan accordingly. Be is now unbundling one or two exchanges a day. It is operational in 113, and will go live in Manchester on Tuesday. Ivanovic said the only firms with more exchanges unbundled were Bulldog with 430 and Easynet with 230.

AOL, Wanadoo and Tiscali are all seeking to install their own broadband equipment to allow them to compete more effectively. But their desire for a rapid roll-out is restricted by the complexity of the process and the need for manual intervention by BT’s engineers.

Unless Talk Talk’s unbundled exchanges are in place by July, it will cost the firm more money to supply its customers, because it will have to buy BT’s more expensive wholesale broadband product. Charles Dunstone, Carphone’s chief executive, said last week that he “will chase BT to the end of the world” to recover any additional money he has to spend.

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