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So just who are the largest ISPs in the UK?
According to a broadband
analysis by Point-Topic on
the 29th of June 2006, the top ten ISPs have 88% of the market share of
broadband in the UK. "By the end of March 2006 they accounted for
9.5 million broadband lines out of a total market of 10.7 million."
Largest UK ISPs by number of broadband lines (‘000s)
|
Q4 2005 |
Q1 2006 |
Market
Share |
Quarter
Growth |
BT Retail |
2229 |
2481 |
23.1
|
11.3
|
NTL |
1625 |
1726 |
16.1
|
6.2
|
AOL |
1150 |
1300 |
12.1
|
13.0
|
Telewest |
1005 |
1096 |
10.2
|
9.1
|
Tiscali |
934 |
1085 |
10.1
|
16.2
|
Wanadoo |
906 |
986 |
9.2
|
8.8
|
Pipex |
283 |
311 |
2.9
|
9.9
|
PlusNet |
176 |
194 |
1.8
|
10.2
|
Virgin.net |
167 |
193 |
1.8
|
15.6
|
Tesco |
120 |
132 |
1.2
|
10.0
|
Others |
1218 |
1227 |
11.4
|
0.7
|
Total |
9813 |
10730 |
|
9.3 |
source
point-topic
It's obvious from the above figures and the graph on the right,
that there are just six major players in the UK. There is quite
a large jump between Pipex and Wanadoo, with BT Retail storming
ahead.
Since these figures were produced, it should be noted that NTL,
Telewest and Virgin, now come under one group as NTL:Telewest.
This now makes them the UK's largest broadband provider with
3,015,000 customers and 28% of the market share. |

Analysis from UK
Plus service.
|
Who 0wnz j00?
Parent Co |
Brand Purchased |
Date |
Notes |
|
|
|
|
BT Retail |
BT Internet /Openworld
BT Yahoo
PlusNet Group
Brightview Group
|
Jan 2007
July 2007 |
3.7m customers 5/07
4.5m customers 6/08 -link |
Biscit |
V21 |
Oct 2006 |
In administration 03/07 |
Brightview Group
- Global
- Madasafish |
Following Brightview brands merged
under MAAF Aug 06:-
Freenetname, IC24, Totalise, DialStart |
since 2001 |
Under offer with BT
July 07 |
BSkyB |
Easynet - UK Online |
Oct 2005 |
259,000 BB 1/07
553,000 BB 4/07
716,000 BB 6/07 |
ClaraNet |
Via Networks (prev U-Net) |
Sep 2004 |
|
Kingston Communications |
Eclipse
Karoo |
Sep 2004
ISP since 96 |
180,000 -31.03.07 |
Mistral |
Astra
Netkonect |
Jan 2005
Feb 2005
|
|
Namesco |
NDO |
Jun 2005 |
Bought by Dada Jul 07 |
NetServices |
Telefonica UK |
May 2005 |
Consumer broadband sold to 186k May 07 |
NTL:Telewest |
Telewest (merger
finalised)
Virgin (Virgin/NTL joint since 96) |
Mar 2006
Oct 2005 |
|
O2 |
Be* Broadband |
Jun 2006 |
|
Orange |
Wanadoo (FreeServe 12/00) |
Jun 2006 |
(re-brand) |
Pipex Group
(Now Tiscali) |
Bulldog (prev C+W 5/04)
F2S
Homecall (Caudwell Comms)
Host Europe
Nildram
Toucan |
Sep 2006
Oct 2005
Mar 2006
Apr 2004
Aug 2004
Sep 2006 |
Under offer with Tiscali July 07 for £21 m
570,000 12/06
Total BB customers |
PlusNet Group |
Free Online
Force 9
Metronet |
since 97
since 97
Nov 2005 |
Under offer with BT
Dec 2006 |
Supanet |
Internexus Group |
|
|
TalkTalk (CPW) |
OneTel
AOL 1,535,000 3/07 |
Dec 2005
Oct 2006 |
540,000 Jan 07
2,270,000 total Apr 07
702,000 unbundled 4/07 |
Thus |
Demon
beeb.net |
Mar 2003 |
|
Timico |
KeConnect (6000 BB)
Atlas Internet
Twang.net
|
Apr 2007
Nov 2004
Apr 2008 |
|
Tiscali |
HomeChoice
Pipex Group |
Aug 2006
July 2007 |
Dec
06 Now up "for sale" |
186k |
Elite Internet Services
MailBox Internet
Onyx Internet
Tiscali vISPs
EFH
NetServices |
Feb 2005
Sep 2005
Nov 2005
Mar 2005
Dec 2006
May 2007 |
Owned by Marrocco who sold his
ISP FirstNet to the Pipex group GX Networks in 2003 |
Virgin Media |
NTL/Telewest |
|
Rumoured to be up for sale Jul 07 |
Who uses Who?
Running an ISP these days is no mean feat, particulary with the huge cost
of BT Central pipes. They perhaps dont have enough customers to own
their own Centrals to share the costs over. Instead they may choose
to re-sell another ISPs product and/or rebrand it. Some of these ISPs are called
vISPs. (Virtual ISPs), other companies may simply resell another ISPs product.
vISP |
ISP |
ACE Internet |
Mistral |
ADSL4less |
Hotchilli
Internet |
Aquiss |
Entanet |
CharityDays |
PlusNet |
Fast.co.uk |
NetServices |
Fast 24 (Central Point 05/05) |
NetServices + Tiscali |
Ezeedsl |
186k -> 51% to IO Mart |
Freeola |
Entanet |
SurfNetOnline (auth reseller for) |
KeConnect |
Swift Internet |
EntaNet |
TescoNet |
NTL |
Toucan |
Tiscali |
UKFSN |
Entanet |
V21 |
NetServices |
Vivaciti |
EntaNet + Griffin |
Waitrose |
MadasaFish |
Xifos |
EntaNet |
Bye Bye to....
The following ISPs "went to the wall", either through being unrealistic
with the pricing of adsl to their customers and offering promises of
unlimited bandwidth that they couldn't possibly sustain, or in some cases simply withdrawing from the broadband marketplace.
ISP |
Date |
Notes |
|
|
|
BISCit /v21 |
Mar 07 |
|
Blue Leaf |
Sep 06 |
Offered Unlimited |
BoltBlue |
Apr 07 |
Withdraws from the Market |
e7even |
Jul 06 |
Unsustainable pricing |
Euro1Net (ADS) |
Sep 06 |
Unsustainable pricing |
Evolution |
May 2006 |
Offered Unlimited |
Gio Internet |
May 2005 |
Unsustainable pricing |
Fast24 |
Nov 2006 |
|
All of the above ISPs offered something that was economically unsustainable,
with a few of them offering adsl for less than the actual wholesale
costs. :/
The above information is correct to the
best of my knowledge.
Corrections welcomed.
Bit more Info.
ISP |
No |
Date |
Info |
AOL |
1.5m |
Oct 06 |
When taken over by CPW |
BT |
3m |
Sep 06 |
|
NTL |
2,980,400 |
Sep 06 |
|
Pipex |
570,000 |
|
After aquistion of Bulldog and toucan |
Sky |
74,000 |
Oct 06 |
113k Orders 65k of the 74k are on LLU.
540 LLU exchanges +62 more due. |
TalkTalk |
60,000 LLU |
Oct 06 |
370 LLU with 1000 target by May 07 |
TalkTalk |
525,000 |
Nov 06 |
Broadband
losses of £70 million |
Tiscali R+W |
1,336,000 |
Sep 06 |
263,000 LLU - note - not all are via tiscali retail |
UK Online |
35,000 |
Oct 06 |
Owned by Sky |
|
|
|
|
1,000,000 LLU lines reached Oct 06 increasing at approx 30k per week.
As at end of Sep BT had 9.3 million wholesale broadband connections inc 838 k LLU. |
2.000,000 LLU lines by end of April 07 |
|
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