NTL has apologised to broadband customers for imposing a cap on downloads without telling them. But the company refuses to change its mind.

As reported on vnunet.com yesterday, the cable firm decided to restrict downloads on its fast internet service to 1GB per day, the equivalent of around 200 music tracks or 10,000 photographs.

However, the capping of the service, which was originally advertised as unlimited access to the net, has sparked a furious response from customers.

An NTL spokesman told the BBC that the company had removed the term 'unlimited' from the service, but had pledged to be flexible in its enforcement of the new rules.

Managing director Aizad Hussain said in a statement: "Our objective is only to limit very frequent or persistent heavy network use that can impact other customers."

He added that the company would only contact customers who exceed the daily data limit for three or more days in any consecutive 14-day period.

NTL remains confident that the limitations will affect only a tiny number of its customers, claiming that the average user downloads less than 100MB of data per day.

The cable firm also said that will explore ways of offering a tiered pricing model in the future.