“FRIACO is not merely a stopgap between pay-as-you-go (metered Internet access) and broadband, but more an important and effective migration path to mass-market broadband. It is the only viable way for ISPs and OLOs to offer unmetered access,” says the reportÂÂ’s author, Rupert Wood. “We believe that FRIACO will have a significant market for at least five years, and that it will not delay, but rather promote, the spread of broadband, by effectively building up and preparing a user base ready to take broadband services.”
Analysys forecasts that the overall number of active internet access accounts in western Europe is set to grow rapidly from 64 million by the end of 2001 to more than 110 million by 2005. In the UK, the number of FRIACO-based dial-up connections is set to rise by over 100% by 2003. “We do not believe that broadband can be priced attractively enough in the short term to attract those currently on metered dial-up services with low usage patterns,” says Wood.
