NTL has 380k 128K ‘broadband’ punters

Leaked numbers confirm industry estimates

By Tim Richardson • Get more from this author

Posted in Telecoms, 2nd May 2003 09:34 GMT

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More than half of NTL's customers use its always on 128K service, The Register can reveal.

The UK's largest cableco has been very protective over any breakdown in its "broadband" customer base.

However, according to internal figures seen by Vulture Central, NTL has, in total, a shade under 690,000 customers it regards as "broadband" punters.

A smidge over 380,000 (55 per cent) of them are hooked up to the cableco's 128Kbps service.
Around 280,000 (40 per cent) use the cableco's 600Kbps service.
Almost 26,000 (four per cent) take NTL's 1Mbps service.
A handful (1,800) subscribe to the company's 64Kbps service.

Confirmation that more than half of the cableco's "broadband" customer base is made up of 128Kbps customers is likely to stoke further the debate over total broadband take-up in the UK.

Only this week, the UK's cable industry (NTL and Telewest) bragged how it now had more than a million broadband customers. However, this breakdown of figures seen by The Register, combined with Oftel's decision to redefine broadband as services that are always-on and faster that 256Kbps, suggests that the cable industry has still some way to go before it truly meets its one million milestone.

A spokesman for NTL declined to discuss the leaked figures saying: "We never comment on the breakdown of the figures." ®