Verizon, Yahoo team on fast Net service

Verizon Communications Inc., the largest US local-phone carrier, will team with Yahoo Inc. to offer a lower-priced fast Internet service to win subscribers from cable and dial-up providers.

Users will get Yahoo content with Web access over a digital subscriber line as fast as 768 kilobits per second, New York-based Verizon said in a statement yesterday. The $14.95-a-month offer is good with a one-year contract in 28 states, including Massachusetts.

The agreement steps up an Internet-access price war among telephone carriers and follows a similar accord between Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo and SBC Communications Inc., the number two high-speed Web provider. The offer matches SBC's cheapest service and is less than the introductory $19.99 price of Comcast Corp., the largest seller of high-speed Internet service.

''It appears to be half the bandwidth at half the price," said UBS AG analyst John Hodulik, who rates the shares ''buy" and does not own them. ''The [Baby] Bells are heavily focused on market share in an effort to protect their local lines." .

Verizon shares rose 11 cents to close at $33.24 yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange. Yahoo fell 9 cents to $33.11 on the Nasdaq.