First National Bank’s Internet service provider, FNB Connect, will offer its subscribers free access to YouTube for two months, effective until the end of June, in a sign of increasing competition in the broadband market.

The offer is available to the company’s fixed-line digital subscriber line (DSL) users who are registered for its FNB Connect Surf product. YouTube, owned by Google, is one of the most bandwidth-hungry Internet applications.

FNB Connect is available only to customers of the bank, but it says people interested in the service can open a transactional account with “no monthly fee”. Unlike some of its competitors, the company does not offer uncapped DSL bandwidth.

The free YouTube offer comes a fortnight after Telkom’s mobile arm, 8ta, announced it was launching “free” mobile YouTube streaming to BlackBerry devices, up to 500MB/month. — Staff reporter, TechCentral