UK ISP, Mobile Internet and Cable Subscriber Numbers - December 2013

Here is an update of the UK ISP market covering DSL and Cable Access market as well as the Mobile Dongle market in the UK.  I have also added in the published figures for 3G and 4G mobile access devices. I have used ITU published data for Broadband usage numbers and Neilson Ratings and ISP published figures to get an accurate picture as well all the reports and disclosures for each of the companies shown below. I believe these figures represent a reasonably accurate representation of the genuine adoption of broadband either via DSL, Cable or mobile dongle. Broadband connections included in this data cover download speeds equal to or faster than 256kbit/s.

Table 1. Broadband ISPs (Source: ITU, Neilsen, OFCOM & ISP Published Figures)

No.	ISP/Provider	User Numbers	% of UK Market (inc Mobile)
1	BT Retail	6,961,000	26.07%
2	Sky Broadband	5,017,000	18.79%
3	Virgin Media	4,488,600	16.81%
4	TalkTalk Group	4,076,000	15.27%
5	Orange	714,000	2.67%
6	Kingston Comms	178,200	0.67%
7	Zen Internet	94,000	0.32%
8	Vodafone UK	85,000	0.31%
9	Thus Group	80,000	0.30%
10	Entanet	70,000	0.26%

BT continues to grow its user base at the expense of the smaller players.  Sky Broadband has continued to grow, primarily by acquisition having taken over O2’s broadband user base.  However, although BT Sport is still in its early days, it is clearly impacting Sky’s organic growth.

The total UK Internet connectivity market is not only made up of Broadband ISPs, but connection is now frequently through 3G and a growing 4G user base. Consequently I have taken the total market as being made up of both the fixed-line broadband and mobile internet access as I think it would be erroneous to suggest that they are not part of the same competitive market. The Broadband ISP market size is estimated to be just under 22 million broadband connections. OFCOM estimates the mobile internet connectivity to be in the region of 5.0 million mobile broadband users in addition the 21.7 million fixed line users.  So the total market is estimated at 26.7million subscribers.  Of these super broadband users make up just 3.7million.

UK ISP, Cable, Dongle and 3G and 4G User numbers November 2012

Here is an update of the UK ISP market covering DSL and Cable Access market as well as the Mobile Dongle market in the UK.  I have also added in the published figures for 3G and 4G mobile access devices. I have used ITU published data for Broadband usage numbers and Neilson Ratings and ISP published figures to get an accurate picture as well all the reports and disclosures for each of the companies shown below. I believe these figures represent a reasonably accurate representation of the genuine adoption of broadband either via DSL, Cable or mobile dongle. Broadband connections included in this data cover download speeds equal to or faster than 256kbit/s.

Table 1. Broadband ISPs (Source: ITU, Neilsen, OFCOM & ISP Published Figures)


No.	ISP/Provider	User Numbers	% of UK Market
1	BT Retail	6,444,600	30.43%
2	Virgin Media	4,413,400	20.84%
3	Sky Broadband	4,103,000	19.47%
4	TalkTalk Group	4,043,000	19.09%
5	Orange	723,000	3.41%
6	O2	579,000	2.73%
7	Kingston Comms	178,200	0.84%
8	Zen Internet	94,000	0.44%
9	Entanet	92,000	0.43%
10	Thus Group	87,000	0.41%


The major change over the past year has been been the continued growth of Sky Broadband which has seen it rise above TalkTalk.  Undoubtedly the combination of the Sky bundled offerings with its satellite TV content has driven this growth.  Recent launch of Talk Talk's TV set-top box plus the major BT play into football are both aiming at trying to redress this strategy.  Clearly Orange and O2 are seeking to enhance their position in the UK market through growth in the connected Tablet market which is experiencing phenomenal growth as eluded to below. 

The total UK Internet connectivity market is not only made up of Broadband ISPs, but connection is now frequently through 3G and most recently 4G mobile network connections.  The Broadband ISP market size is estimated to be just over 21 million broadband connections. The figures for mobile connectivity is much harder to obtain, however, given that there are now many millions of Internet enable phones in use today. However, OFCOM indicate in their latest facts on the market that there are 5.1 million mobile broadband users in addition the 21 million fixed line users.