BT Retail Passes Four Million Broadband Customers Mark

BT Retail says that it has became the UK’s first broadband supplier to pass the four million customer mark.

The acceleration to four million has taken just over five years meaning a new customer has been added on average every 40 seconds since June 2002.

This also equates to more than 2,000 new customers each day during that period. The last million customers have been added in ten months.

According to BT, only Canada is ahead of the UK in terms of broadband penetration in the G8 meaning the UK is ahead of Japan, France, Germany and the US.

There are more than 15 million connections in the UK with approximately 11.5m of those running over the BT network. The rest are carried via the UK’s cable network.

Ian Livingston, BT Retail chief executive, said: “Four million customers is a great achievement in such a short time. Broadband has proved to be one of the most popular new services ever seen. It is already delivering next generation television, inclusive free phone calls in High Definition sound and great value mobile calls.

“Broadband can provide so many more services than just internet surfing and it has become central to many people’s lives and businesses. Customers want to take advantage of the potential of broadband and need a high quality, reliable service – that’s why BT is the UK’s most popular broadband service.”

A recent report from the Office for National Statistics said that the number of UK households connected to the internet has jumped by almost one million in the last year alone, to reach over 15 million (see Household Internet Connectivity Rises To Over 15 Million).

Meanwhile, Ofcom’s annual Communications Market Report revealed that silver surfers spend an average of 42 hours online every month, more than any other age group (see Silver Surfers Spend More Time Online Than Any Other Age Group).

BT: 0207 469 2337 www.btplc.com