BT has connected its five millionth wholesale broadband customer, beating a target set by the company a year ahead of schedule.
Broadband is now one of the fastest growing consumer products of all time in the UK, with a higher take up rate than televisions, CD players, video recorders or mobile phones.
More than 95% of UK homes and businesses are now connected to broadband-enabled central offices (exchanges) and that figure will reach 99.6% by this summer, putting the UK ahead of any other G7 country in terms of DSL availability.
The five million connections are shared between more than 200 service providers with BT’s own retail arm having around 35% of the total DSL market. There are also an estimated two million cable broadband customers in the UK.
Ben Verwaayen, BT’s CEO said: “Three years ago when we set a target of five million by 2006 it seemed a daunting task. To have reached this milestone so early into 2005 is a massive achievement for the whole industry. The momentum of broadband is continuing to build. The latest million connections have come in just four months, and BT is connecting a customer every ten seconds. But now the focus needs to move from broadband availability towards the ways in which broadband can improve people’s lives.
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