British consumers get their first ‘quad play’ offering Tuesday as newly merged ntl:Telewest today announced a new range of services combining TV, broadband, fixed line and mobile telephony. As a sweetener, the firm said it will offer free TV to any new fixed line phone customer.

Since its acquisition of Virgin, talk has been of the firm taking on BT with its cable offering. In a statement, ntl:Telewest said: “Consumers who include broadband in their package will benefit from the unique speed and interactivity of ntl:Telewest’s next generation, fibre-rich network, rather than having to depend on BT’s aging copper network.”

The company said its new quad package will “receive substantial advertising support”, and will be marketed through Virgin Mobile retail operation.

Steve Burch, ntl:Telewest’s chief executive officer said: “The quad play product will be the first time we’ve combined a Virgin branded service with ntl:Telewest products: no other company has the capability to provide such total flexibility for the consumer.”

Virgin’s involvement in the marketing of the new services will be key: ntl has earned a poor customer service record in the UK and will be relying on the consumer friendly Virgin brand to convince consumers it can be trusted.