Cable chases DSL in UK broadband race

Cable is catching up with digital subscriber line (DSL) as the leading technology for business access to broadband.

In its annual report, Cable giant NTL this week announced record revenues and a surge in customer numbers.

The company claims to have made significant inroads into the business telecoms and networking market, with 340,000 business lines installed up to the end of 2000, and 76,300 business customers.

It has also made significant advances in broadband internet access, picking up 12,800 customers in the UK last year.

The more widely available and heavily promoted BT Asymmetric DSL service is still the most popular broadband system with 54,000 subscribers, but analysts remain unconvinced about its suitability for business.

"ADSL still strikes me as a very consumer oriented product compared with cable. But it will come down to the cost and the availability of cable in business areas," said Mat Hanrahan, an analyst at Bloor Research. "If NTL can be competitive on price, get the network out there and provide the applications to make it appeal to business, then it stands a chance."

NTL's rival Telewest has reported a 14 per cent increase in users with 66,500 customers and 365,000 lines, further strengthening the cable challenge to DSL.

Telewest, the UK's number two cable provider, has cut the cost of its 512K cable modem service from £33 per line per month to £25.

The service is a competitor to the 512K ADSL offering from BT, which resells at £40 per month.

Also published in Computing