UK broadband market no longer at death's door

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Despite experiencing a bleak last quarter, the UK broadband market is starting to recover, according to research released yesterday.

The country now boasts 9.4 million DSL lines, compared with 8.7 million in the previous quarter, showing overall growth of eight per cent since June, claims the report compiled by broadband market researcher Point Topic.

"After earlier hiccups, consumer confidence has returned to the UK broadband market," said Katja Mueller, the researcher's chief analyst.

"The overall growth rate has improved quite significantly over the last quarter. It signals a full recovery in growth terms and promises a captivating last quarter of 2006."

And, while BT's overall volume of DSL lines increased from 8.07 million to 8.49 million by the end of September, it is still feeling the effects of increasing competition from LLU ISPs in some geographies.

London reported the lowest DSL growth during the study period for this very reason, according to Point Topic.

The North East, West Midlands and North West also performed comparatively weakly, with the latter reporting just over 18 per cent growth.

Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, however, still have a growing appetite for DSL, with 44.12 per cent, 33.16 per cent and 31.51 per cent growth respectively between the fourth quarter of 2005 and third quarter of 2006.

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