Broadband providers still vying for top spot

With competition amongst broadband providers hotting up how long will BT be able to hold on to the top spot of being the largest broadband supplier?

The explosion of broadband in the UK has seen a number of providers come onto the market, all of which are vying for the custom of the UK’s Internet enthusiasts. The number of individuals and households in the UK with broadband connections has rocketed over the last few years, and competition amongst broadband providers is tougher than ever, with ISPs offering freebies and incentives ranging from trial periods to laptop computers in order to try and get customers on board.

With so much competition in the area of broadband many wonder how long the communications giant British Telecom, which is currently the largest provider of Broadband in the UK, will be able to hang on to the top spot. BT has recently compiled figures to show that it has a broadband customer base of nearly four million, having added around one hundred and seventy five thousand customers in the last three months along. However, the communications giant has acquired a number of smaller providers, which has helped to boost these numbers and has helped to place it in top position as the largest provider of broadband.

Virgin Media, despite the mass exodus by disappointed customers and the various problems it has experienced over recent months, is currently is second place. The media giant has nearly three and a half million customers at the moment, but it is thought that for the second quarter in a row the number of people joining up could be fewer than one hundred thousand. BskyB, the Virgin rival, on the other hand boasts additions of around two hundred and sixty thousand customers for the last quarter, making it the fasted growing ISP based on these figures. Less than a year after launching its service the media giant now boasts nearly three quarters of a million customers.

Around one hundred and twenty five thousand customers joined up with Carphone Warehouse over the last quarters, which includes AOL and TalkTalk. Carphone now boasts nearly two and a half million broadband customers, and is one of the companies, along with Orange, that is trying to get consumers on board by offering a free laptop when singing up for a two year contract on AOL.