UK broadband gets broader and Telewest's DIY offering

NEWS One in 10 home internet users in the UK now use broadband connections, while 90 per cent of all net users say they are happy with the services they buy. Those are the latest figures from Oftel - and the industry regulator is clearly pleased with progress. In a release issued today, Oftel notes there are 30,000 new broadband subscriptions every week right now, meaning the UK has over 1.4 million households with high-speed net access. Oftel DG David Edmonds also said consumers still benefit from "good deals on unmetered dial-up access". The government, BT and others have long maintained low broadband penetration rates in the UK are partly to do with good-value narrowband on offer. Separate research has shown broadband adoption growing at these rates while narrowband dial-up levels remain almost static. However, it isn't that new users are jumping straight to broadband, rather that as new narrowband surfer come online they replace an equal number of consumers upgrading to broadband. In a statement, E-minister Stephen Timms said: "It is wonderful to see the joint work of government and industry in raising awareness of the benefits of broadband really paying off." Many consumers have chosen to focus on the lack of broadband availability in their locales, while the major service providers have concentrated on educating home users and small businesses on its advantages. The main broadband service providers, BT, NTL, Telewest and ISPs, who nearly all resell BT's ADSL service, offer different versions of high-speed connectivity. Today Telewest announced a self-install version of its Blueyonder broadband service, costing £12.50 for a DIY starter pack. The deal is cheaper than BT's self-install ADSL option but only available to Telewest digital TV subscribers as it makes use of the cable modem found in set-top boxes.