Telewest Signs Up 107,000 Broadband Internet Customers

Telewest was the first cable company to really begin to drive broadband internet access through its Blueyonder service. BT, meanwhile, has dragged its heels over wholesale pricing of opening up its networks to allow operators to deliver ADSL services – which are, in any event, slower than broadband connections.

Telewest has effectively joined forces with rival cable group NTL in order to more efficiently market broadband services to consumers (see Forecasts).

A report from GartnerG2 analysing the European broadband marketplace (see European Broadband Revolution Is On Hold, Says GartnertG2) forecast that by the end of 2001 just 2.0% of internet households in the UK would have broadband access, as shown in the chart below. This concurs with findings from Oftel that show dial-up (narrowband) access services are currently dominant the UK internet market (see Almost Of Half Of UK Households Are Now Online).

However, Oftel believes that dial-up services are very often the stepping stone for consumers in upgrading to unmetered, flat-rate broadband access.