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UK broadband services hit by recession
Friday 16th January 2009, by Daniel King
The global recession has had a major impact on broadband services in the UK, a survey has revealed.
According to analysis by Point Topic, the total number of connection lines in the country had reached 17.23 million by the end of 2008, up from 17.04 million in October.
But despite the addition of around 200,000 broadband lines during the final three months of the year, the group points out that this is less than half the number anticipated before the financial difficulty set in.
The figures suggested that the number of people looking to subscribe to broadband continued to grow.
However, this was largely down to existing web surfers looking to switch from dial-up services rather than new uptake, the research pointed out.
Point Topic also noted that BT had suffered the worst effects of the recession, with the group seeing the largest fall in new connections.
"The main reason is probably the drive to save money as users churn to the low-cost bundles offered by Virgin Media and the local loop unbundling operators," the group stated.
Indeed, these providers - such as Sky, Tiscali and Carphone Warehouse have continued to do "relatively well" in terms of recruiting new customers.
This comes after comments made by the communications minister suggested that the government may be ready to target universal broadband use across the UK.
Speaking to the Westminster eForum, Lord Carter said: "[Broadband] is an enabling and transformational service and therefore we have to look at how we can universalise it."
Categories: Broadband
