The number of broadband lines in the UK reached 13.1 million by the end of 2006 by adding more than 3.1 million new lines in the year, according to new research from Point Topic.
However, Point Topic says that this is a disappointment for many operators as it is 20% down on the number added in 2005. Point Topic previously published a report which showed that broadband’s annual growth rate dropped from 38% to 33.3% in the 12 months to September 30 2006 (see
Global Broadband Growth Rate Drops).
Delays in meeting the demand for ‘free’ bundled offers and the task of transferring over 1 million lines to local loop unbundling (LLU) have both contributed to the drop in new broadband connections.
Tim Johnson, CEO of Point Topic, said: “We believe that ISPs have the chance to do better in 2007 though.”
“Our latest survey shows there is still a big latent demand for broadband in the consumer market.”
More than 20% of the 10 million UK households currently without any internet access say they are ‘very’ or ‘fairly’ likely to go online in the next 6 months.
Ninety percent of these say they would go straight to broadband, representing 1.8 million potential customers.
Johnson said: “Add the number of homes we expect will upgrade from dial-up and there are 2.5 million new broadband customers to be won in the first half of the year.
“Obviously they won’t all sign up but we think the industry should be able to win 70% of them to add 1,750,000 new lines in the next six months.”
If correct this will give a result very close to Point Topic’s previously released detailed forecasts for UK subscriber numbers based on its series of surveys and spatial models. These project 14.87 million broadband lines in the UK by end-June 2007.
Point Topic’s new estimates are based on its third Consumer Survey. This was carried out in December 2006 by Ipsos MORI and YouGov using a two-part approach. They interviewed both a representative national sample of 2,000 households and a specialised sample of 4000 households with internet access.
A recent report from Analysys said that the number of unbundled local loops in Western Europe will grow from 10.9 million in June 2006 to 28.6 million by the end of 2007 (see Unbundled Local Loops To Reach 28.6 Million In Western Europe).
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