BT ditches Yahoo as service revamp continues

BT has ditched Yahoo as part of a revamp of its online and email services.

The telecoms giant has confirmed it will close the BT Yahoo portal during the summer and that users with a BT Yahoo email account will be also be switched over to the BT mailbox.

All messages will remain intact and email addresses will be the same, but users may be prompted to change their password, BT said.

There is not timeframe for the switch, but it will occur before the end of the year.

"During the summer, the BT Yahoo portal will close, but customers will be able to access their BT Yahoo Mail account by clicking on a link from BT.com. Later in the year, customers will be moved to BT Mail," the firm said in a statement.

Nick Wong, director of online for BT's consumer division, claimed customers would get all the features they expect from a modern email service.

"[BT Mail] will also feature in-built anti-virus and anti-spam solutions. We will be keeping our customers fully informed about what changes to expect and when they will be able to enjoy the new services."

This will be the second largest email switchover this year, with Microsoft already moving Hotmail users to its rebranded Outlook.com service, and experiencing a major backlash.

The move is a blow to Yahoo, which is already struggling to re-assert itself as a dominate player in the online world.

Meanwhile, BT continues to grow its customer base on the back of its high-speed broadband services. The firm has over 1.5 million customers using broadband with 270,000 fibre connections in the last quarter.

This number is expected to grow as BT pushes ahead with an aggressive strategy, which undercuts competitors such as BSkyB and Virgin.

Earlier in May, the firm announced that all BT Broadband customers would get free access to its three sports channels. This will include coverage of 38 Barclays Premier League matches, as well as access to Rugby and Tennis events.

BT.com is also set to be relaunched in June to support the firm's new content delivery model.