New York - Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC) will this week begin testing a new metered pricing scheme for some of its broadband subscribers in Texas, where users will be charged an extra $1 per gigabyte if they exceed their monthly bandwidth allowance. "We think it's the fairest way to finance the needed investment in the infrastructure," Kevin Leddy, Time Warner Cable's EVP of advanced technology, told the Associated Press, adding that 5% of the company's subscribers account for half of the capacity on its local cable lines.

Time Warner Cable's new metered plans will run from $29.95 per month for 768 Kbps and a 5GB bandwidth cap, to $54.90 for 15 Mbps and a 40GB bandwidth cap; both downloading and uploading of content will apply towards the bandwidth cap.

Other U.S. providers, including Comcast, are considering similar caps, while metered Internet service is more common overseas.

Related Links:
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080602/tec_time_warner_cable_internet.html (AP)

http://news.cnet.com/8301-10784_3-9958111-7.html