NTL notches up 1m ‘broadband’ punters

Cableco struts its stuff

By Tim Richardson • Get more from this author

Posted in Telecoms, 3rd March 2004 16:28 GMT

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NTL reckons it's top dog for broadband after announcing today that it has become the first UK ISP to rack up one million broadband customers.

Said the cableco's chief exec, Simon Duffy: "NTL continues to be the driving force behind the growth of broadband in the UK. We are proud to be the first ISP to have over one million homes connected to broadband and believe that the quality of our service sets the standard in the UK. We have rapidly become the European standard bearer for broadband cable."

That may the case, but there are plenty of people who question NTL's claim. The reason is that NTL flogs a high-speed 150k service that many consumers and industry insiders in the UK reckon just isn't broadband.

Last year, for example, figures seen by The Register showed that half of NTL's 'broadband' customer base consists of punters whose connection was just three times the speed of a dial-up service.

While NTL revels in today's announcement, it should not be forgotten that cableco has recently stepped up its campaign against its customers who use the service too much.

BT Retail has around 950,000 ADSL customers signed up to its BT Broadband and BT Yahoo! services, while BT Wholesale has notched up two million lines. ®