Freeserve's dominance of the domestic UK ISP market appears to be at an end, according to the latest research from telecoms regulator, Oftel.

The winged watchdog's survey Consumers' use of Internet: Oftel residential survey Q5 May 2001 shows that Le Freeswerve's share of the domestic market has slumped from 29 per cent in July 2000 to just 18 per cent in May 2001.

In contrast, AOL UK's share of home users has soared increasing its market share from 8 per cent to 17 per cent during the same period.

That leaves AOL UK just one percentage point behind Britain's biggest French ISP. And since the survey was carried out in May it's possible that AOL UK has already overtaken Le Freeswerve as Britain's most popular ISP.

The market share of third place BTinternet remains flat at 12 per cent.

A spokeswoman for AOL UK was delighted with the news explaining that since its introduction of flat rate charges in September, its user base has increased dramatically.

No one was available for comment from Le Freeswerve by press time. ®