Next steps to the market

Written on 1:35 PM by ooe

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 modem.

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 orders received. These initiatives are a combination of BT's activities as well as active marketing by several service providers who are BT's broadband customers. As a result, in June 2003 BT achieved its one millionth ADSL end user.

Although take-up has not kept pace with the early market predictions, the general view is that the potential market is achievable, but in slightly longer timescales. There are, however, wider challenges that need to be tackled if DSL fulfils the current expectations and there is also a need to understand alternative technologies and the role they may play in the broadband future.