BT Claims Broadband Takeup Accelerating

Telecoms giant British Telecom has announced a staggering increase in the uptake of its broadband internet services, with the company now signing up a new high-speed customer every ten seconds.

BT today claimed to have passed the four million wholesale broadband customer milestone, notching up the last one million connections in just four months, adding an average of 8,500 homes to its network each day, seven days a week.

Commenting on the massive surge in demand Ben Verwaayen, BT’s chief executive, said: “We are currently making a new broadband connection at least every ten seconds, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We reached three million ADSL connections in August of this year, so to have now reached four million well before Christmas is tremendous news. It shows that the take up rate for broadband is accelerating apace.”

More than 95% of the UK’s homes and businesses are now able to receive a broadband service, with the figure expected to reach 99.4% by next summer, putting the UK well ahead of any other G7 country in terms of DSL availability.

The four million connections provided by BT are shared between more than 150 service providers, including BT’s retail operations. In addition, there are also an estimated 1.7 million cable broadband customers in the UK.

Earlier this month saw media regulator Ofcom reduce the connection and rental charges for Local loop unbundling services, clearing the way for greater competition between broadband providers and providing customers with cheaper services and more choice (see Lower Charges To Boost Internet Customer Choice).

BT: 0207 469 2337 www.btplc.com

Recent New Media Stories from NewsLine Internet Advertising Spend To Rocket In 2005 Associated New Media Creates Dedicated Research Arm MSN Restructures To Drive Digital Marketing Revenues

Subscribers can access ten years of media news and analysis in the Archive