‘Fickle’ Net Users Flock To Free ISPs
Two thirds of home internet users in the UK currently do not pay a fee to a service provider, turning instead to one of many free ISPs that have launched in the last few months. Of all the free players, Dixons’ Freeserve currently dominates with 31% of home Net users holding an active Freeserve account in May 1999. These are the findings of Fletcher Research’s new report, Internet Strategies: Freeing The Future.
Furthermore, home internet users are becoming less loyal to a single service provider, with each user now having, on average, 1.3 active accounts. “Pay services face a key challenge over the coming months to convince their existing subscribers to maintain the service, let alone recruit more subscribers,” says Fletcher. The report predicts that by 2003 there will be 7.5 million online homes in the UK; of these only 1.5 million are expected to hold pay internet accounts.
Just behind Freeserve in the free access market at present is BT’s ClickFree with a 14% share of UK users. AOL, BT Internet and Compuserve, which are all still pay services, come in third, fourth and fifth.
Neil Bradford, director of Fletcher Research, says: “In just nine months, the internet access industry has been revolutionised by the advent of subscription-free providers. Freeserve’s compelling proposition and aggressive development has built a powerful online brand with a formidable lead in the UK internet access market. We do not expect any other brand to match, let alone overtake, Freeserve’s progress, unless a new business model for delivering access arrives, such as free phone calls or free PCs.”
Freeserve has also secured a deal with Haymarket Publications in an ongoing association with the publisher’s new internet title, The Net (see Freeserve Joins Haymarket In Internet Mag Launch).
Separately, GWR yesterday became the first UK radio operator to offer a free internet access service through the launch of its Classic Freenet venture (see GWR Becomes First Radio Group To Offer Free Net Access).
Fletcher Research: 0171 631 0202 … http://www.fletch.co.uk/