From May 28 2003, the electronic paper will be distributed daily to readers who currently subscribe to The Times Online, which is free to sign up to for UK users but costs international visitors £39.99 a year.
The electronic edition will be offered initially at £49.99 a year to new users, and thereafter will cost £75 a year, working out at 24p a day -- the paper currently costs 45p at newsstands.
The daily edition of the e-paper will be joined by an electronic version of the Sunday Times later in the year.
However, the e-paper will only be on sale overseas and will not be available to UK residents. This is because the Audit Bureau of Circulations does not accept e-paper editions as part of audited circulations.
In the US, by contrast, online editions are taken into account. Until the ABC changes its policy, The Online Times e-paper will only be available around the world apart from the UK.
The new product will be a copy of the full final edition of The Times, including all supplements, and will be available from 5am GMT at the latest -- late evening in New York, lunchtime in the Far East and late afternoon in Australia. Users will be able to browse pages, click on articles and ads to enlarge them, and search the content.
The Times has been increasing its online activity over the last year, with two special editions. Last month, it published an edition focusing on the outsourcing market, sponsored by BT and aimed at its business readers, and in March it launched an investor's centre in association with Merrill Lynch to provide an editorial guide to all aspects of investment.
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