5.10 Next steps to the market

If one looks back to the early 1990s, trials were looking at the roll-out of a fibre based access network, ADSL was an embryonic technology that was still very much a laboratory experiment, and the Internet had a limited number of business users. The reason for making this observation is that in those days, few people would have predicted this future. There were numerous analyses of the potential broadband market at the time broadband was launched. All showed the anticipated demand for broadband within the UK to be extremely healthy. Moreover they showed that DSL and cable modems will provide the dominant access mechanisms, with DSL slightly above cable modems (see Figure 5.18).

Figure 5.18: Potential UK broadband market
Source: IDC, 2000

The analyses showed that in 2004 the UK will have the greatest broadband penetration of the European G7 countries (see Figure 5.19). This expectation is supported by the fact that, in December 2001, the UK had the greatest penetration of Internet amongst the European G7 countries (see Figure 5.20).

Figure 5.19: Percentage of households with broadband connections
Source: IDC, 2000

Figure 5.20: European household Internet penetration, 2001
Source: Forester, Dec 2001

With the research at the time pointing to a healthy future for DSL broadband, the focus has been on taking up that opportunity and kick-starting the market. Pricing offers, marketing initiatives and the introduction of product developments are helping to create an upwards trend in the number of...