By Jo Best, 28 November 2005 11:55
NEWS
UK ISP PlusNet has bought fellow ISP Parbin for £1.7m.
Parbin, which trades as Metronet, has some 16,000 broadband customers. PlusNet will now offer those customers a wider choice of broadband packages as well as access to its own brand of VoIP, PlusTalk.
Metronet also provides pay-as-you-go broadband - an idea recently taken up by Bulldog. As well as supplying internet access, Metronet provides hosting and domain name registration services.
Lee Strafford, PlusNet's chief exec, said PlusNet will now get access to Metronet's growing customer base and be able to take advantage of the company's reputation.
The move is proof the UK broadband market is in a consolidation phase. The recent $6bn mega-merger of NTL and Telewest kicked off a feeding frenzy that has seen Sky snaffle Easynet and Pipex buy Freedom2Surf.
Comments
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1. Receptional Internet Marketing
Congratulations to the guys at Metronet. I started with them when they simply had a few servers and an Internet cafe in Harrow - about 4 staff as I recall.
They were always just a little ahead of the curve and didn't do something the way everyone else did "just because everyone else did" - they usually tried to do it (technically at least) the RIGHT way.
We still have a server with them and use their port995 product even though they have moved on quite a ways it seems since I last had a cup of coffee down there.
Well done again chaps. Let's hope your purchaser learns more than simply how to win Which awards.
2. Dan
Sigh. Another great company is swallowed up by an AWFUL (in many people's experience - check out the ADSLGuide forums for more information) big company.
Still, at least the Metronet bods got their big payday and for once I think they wholeheartedly deserve it. A top bunch of people who worked really hard to get their deserved good reputation (hence making them attractive for a takeover).
Mixed feelings.
3. Adrian
This is a shame, I have been with Metronet for 2 years, the reason I use Metronet is because it offers a now frills reliable service.
Now Plusnet have got hold of it, it is going to full of junk that I do not need or require and traffic shaping, time to find a new ISP.
4. Robert
I wonder if this is why I've had numerous service outages (complete loss of internet access) this month (Jan06)...
I really hate it when a big company that's made a mess of what it has swallows up a much better smaller company and then makes the same mess of the company it has acquired.
5. yo yomars
really. i wondered why my service had suddenly become so sh*t. And i started receiving emails from metronet saying that i had "gone over my limit". hmmmmmmm. and they didn't reply to my emails anymore. hmmmmmmm. now i know why.