Point Topic reports drop in UK broadband uptake

According to a new report from market research firm Point Topic, 20,000 fewer people in the UK registered for new broadband subscriptions in the third quarter of 2007, compared with the previous quarter.

UK ISP’s gained 470,000 new broadband subscribers in the third quarter compared with 510,000 in the second.

Point Topic believes that this is because the number of people still with dial-up connections is shrinking and the industry is failing to get sufficient numbers of new homes online.

The number of dial-up users in the UK is now estimated to be less than 2 million, and those still on dial-up connections are the people most resistant to making the change to broadband.

There are 10 million homes in the UK still without Internet access, and these are not taking up Internet services at a sufficient rate to maintain new subscriber growth.

However, Point Topic estimates that there will be 17% more broadband lines in the UK by the end of the year, bringing the total to 15.5 million.